Blue

If I may broadly categorize Bollywood films into two camps. One, the original works, which might even extend to remakes of films from the other regions in the subcontinent, but seldom seen outside of it. The masala formula would work its magic into creating an entertaining tale filled with a song and dance extravaganza. Then the other would be the stitching together of elements from other films, seldom referred to as paying homage or acknowledged if at all, and trying to pass them off as originals. These tend to be predictable, and plainly concealing a bad, if non-existent story. Blue unfortunately falls into the latter category.

I had originally wanted to watch this on the big screen, given its tooting of the horn that it's the first to feature stunning underwater photography in a Bollywood action film. But the result here, for an actioner, is something that left much to be desired. While references to Into The Blue can be discounted by virtue of it being just another treasure hunter movie set in the high seas, the other sequences here were something that you would have seen before, from boring MI:2 motorcycle chase scenes, the Bourne Ultimatum for fisticuffs on board a boat, to the one that takes the cake involving a gunfight that was a lift out from Bad Boys 2.

Lines were also found lifted from films like Hitch, but thankfully this was kept to a minimum. Set in the Bahamas with locations like Thailand also included, this film dwells on the search for the missing sunken ship Lady in Blue, which is said to contain treasures beyond a man's widest dreams. A simple, carefree fisherman Sagar (Sanjay Dutt) holds key to the location of the ship, given a diving expedition with his dad when young which resulted in a tragedy. His good friend, rich playboy Aarav (Akshay Kumar) desires that Sagar would come to his senses and make them both richer, but to Sagar it's a secret that he would bring to the grave.

Enter Sagar's reckless brother Sam (Zayed Khan) who's being pursued by thugs all the way from Thailand for a sum of 50 million dollars that he owes, and you know just what the solution is for our reluctant Sagar. As mentioned the film got made through the stringing of action sequences one after another, with room for some romance between Sagar and Mona (Lara Dutta, and Sam and Nikki (Katrina Kaif in a short supporting role), but the much touted underwater action scenes turn out to be nothing more than a drop in the ocean, much of it against faceless thugs who seem to appear quite conveniently to challenge our testosterone filled trio.

There's a nice twist to the story about families which gave the weak story some sense, but alas this was too little too late, as the finale was one hurried affair that seemed more like a haphazardly inserting a coda just for the sake of, damage having already been made by the uninspiring action and plot. If only it had taken time to further develop the characters beyond their cardboard caricatures, which would have made it all the more palatable in terms of story, rather than to stick its guns to the action which were cobbled from films made in the West.

Just watched Blue and sorry to say it did not live up to its hype at least for me.I mean there is nothing bad in breath-taking stunts, falling vehicles and scantily clad dames throughout, but there should at least be a soul of the film which is the story . The soul of the film is missing IMO. And whatever is offered is very much predictable. I mean if you are stunned by the twists in the movie, then you have not seen enough thriller movies. Even the movie Race had shocking twists than Blue. My college friends were all the time busy in predicting what will happen next and most of the times they were right.

Good things about the movie was the cinematography and the breathtaking visuals. It is visually a brilliant movie. The BGM was disappointing. Not expected from Rahman Sir. Akshay Kumar and Sanjay Dutt were the saviors of the movie. No one can beat Akshay in such roles. Lara was there just to shed clothes and be the damsel in distress. Katrina Kaif's Special appearance had more impact than Lara's main role. Zayed Khan did the same thing what he had being doing since his debut (Curse that day :(). I did not understand the reason for the Kylie song in the movie, They could have just done a promotional song with her that plays at the end credits. Overall, watch it for it's style, glamor, action - But if you are looking for good story, you will be disappointed.

Rating : 5/10

The protagonists are searching for a treasure ship that was traveling from Britain to India, and was lost at sea in the Bahamas.. yes Bahamas is en route to India! The acting is horrible, the dialogues are especially cheesy and dialogue delivery made me want to throw up. All the actors make a mess, cant actually blame them if the script was this bad. It has scenes lifted from movies like Torque and Hitch, and has an overall feel of Fool's Gold.

I liked the setting, and cinematography is quite breathtaking. It has a few decent action sequences, though the editing leaves a lot to be desired. The story is very weak and predictable, go for this one only if you have absolutely nothing else to do.

Anthony D'Souza had everything going for him... Budget wise, Stars wise, Music wise, but despite all these cherry's... he fails to make a convincing fare. The script is a complete mess.

The first hr is very slow, the film doesn't move. Songs come up, including 'Chiggy Wiggy'. The second hr picks up, with the climax {which is the only proper Under-Water sequence in the film} standing out. However, the twist in the climax doesn't create any impact.

A R Rahman's music another sore point. One just doesn't get the feeling of the Legendary Music Director's genius in here.

Performance wise: Akshay Kumar is strictly okay. Sanjay Dutt is as usual, though he's looking very fat in the film. Zayed Khan is bland. Lara Dutta looks amazing and does a fine job. Katrina too looks gorgeous, as ever in a cameo appearance. Rahul Dev is good as the menace. Kabir Bedi is wasted.

On the whole 'Blue' disappoints big time.

The only good thing about this movie is it's new for bollywood audience and credit to director nd crew for THEIR hard work on the film. Sympathies aside, Indian audience have watched films like this b.f particularly Hollywood underwater films in recent years. Hollywood movies Jaws and The Deep both based on novels by peter benchley were benchmarks for these kind of films and for audience who loved this genre. Bt recent underwater films by Hollywood and now Blue are no better then the novels themselves, that is to have a story. Blue is a story less film and more about the visuals and the stunts, including wasting the bike stunts all the way in the east that led nowhere. The movie is more or less based on technical aspects of film making than based on a story of any kind. The lady in blue story is pretty good even though it consists of a stupid investigation in accusing the captain of being a traitor. At least Blue could have used this story and made it an historic marine story of sorts, but you end up having the villain(unimpressive akshay) search this treasure to "save the family's honor", while meaning no harm to put the sanjay's family thru all the tamasha.

Ther were no twists even for double crossing rahul dev was dumb, b.c he wasn't interested in this movie at all while seeing his reactions. Overall, thers no treasure hunting b.c its only for a few scenes way down the second half and towards the end of the movie. The movie is sentimental and dull in the first half, nd the second half is of no interest by the time the movie ends.