Shortcut Romeo Review

If you didn’t know Shortcut Romeo was releasing today, Ameesha Patel will personal come and slaughter you. Well, that’s just a joke my friend made this morning but Ameesha has been all over town trying to market this film and herself as much as she possibly can. She wants that big comeback in tinsel town and so she took the easiest route to get that. A shortcut? Yes. By buying the rights of a Hit Tamil film and getting the director to direct it for her. The real Shortcut Romeo, err, Juliet, is Ameesha, it seems. Let’s see if this shortcut actually takes us anywhere worthwhile.

Story: A married rich semi-cougar Monica (Ameesha) is making love with her boyfriend in a golf field and gets caught by Sooraj (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who hides and then shoots the incident and blackmails her. Monica, the shrewd woman that she is, plays her own little game and turns the tables on Sooraj. Sooraj meanwhile has found his lady love in the form of Sherry (Puja Gupta). The story then moves forward with a twist being thrown at the viewer almost every minute. It gets maddening after one point of time because cracks as large as the Grand Canyon start appearing as loopholes in the plot.

Shortcut RomeoShortcut Romeo Movie Review

Direction: Susi Ganesh is entrusted with the task of re-directing his 2006 Tamil film ‘Thiruttu Payale’ and logic says that if a person is directing the same film two times over, he’d learn from his previous mistakes. But that’s not what happens here. The loopholes, the crazy twists, are still there. Susi even appears in a cameo as a detective. Now, the ones who were criticizing Deepika’s thick accent in Chennai Express, please hear Susi’s Hindi and you’d know that Deepika got it right! Susi makes you want to leave the theatre with his hammy acting.

Miscellaneous and Music: The cinematography and the stylish locales are one of the film’s few strong points. Most of the credit must of course go to the Director Of Photography. The editing is top notch too and helps accentuate the frantic story-telling in the last 45 minutes. Himesh Reshammiya’s music is bearable but none of the songs really stay with you. The background score gels with the mood and style of the film.

Acting: The film can be better classified as Ameesha Patel’s portfolio. Only this one costs something in excess of 20 crores. The actress is there throughout the film and emotes and gets by the proceedings without any major hiccups. Neil Nitin Mukesh is making some strange career choices and Shortcut Romeo is just one of them. He hams it up quite a bit when expressing but his action is admirable. Puja Gupta gets side-tracked and has nothing to do other than show some skin. Vrajesh Hirjee appears in an offensively funny track.

Conclusion and Box Office Potential: The director messes with your mind by giving you one twist to digest after another. In essence, Shortcut Romeo looks and feels like an Abbas-Mastan film. The number of things unbearable, far outnumbers the bearable things in the film. In spite of spending a lot of money on marketing, Shortcut Romeo has taken a lukewarm opening. A section of the single screen audience might be interested but all things considered, the Neil-Ameesha-Puja starrer will be out of theatres before you know it. And trust me, that’s not a bad thing at all.

Positives:

  • Cinematography
  • The stylish action sequences
  • The sequence shot in Kenya

Negatives:

  • Ameesha Patel and Neil Nitin Mukesh’s acting
  • The direction
  • The innumerable and mundane twists
  • Loopholes in the plot
  • Susi Ganesh’s guest appearance
  • The music

Rating: ★½☆☆☆

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