Sankat City

Sankat City, the latest brainchild from Moserbaer and Seven entertainment has finally proved that Bollywood directors do have a sense of humour that the audience can understand and relate to. Though the film has no Khans or Kapoors to boast of, it is better than most recent movies claiming to belong to the genre of comedy. Debutante director Pankaj Advani has proved his abilities and shows great promise as he executes this wild roller coaster movie with style and though the storyline is somewhat clichéd and predictable at a few places, he makes it worth watching.

The story is set in Mumbai where Guru(Kay Kay Menon) is a small time car-thief. He along with his partner in crime Ganpat(Dilip Prabhawalkar) who owns a car service garage give the stolen cars a new look and sell it. They hit a jackpot (or so they think) when Guru chances upon a Mercedes car outside a brothel and his happiness doubles when they find a bag with 1 crore rupees in the car. Little do they know that the car belongs to gangster Faujdaar(Anupam Kher) and they start making big plans as to what they will do with the money they make.

Their dreams are burst when Guru tries to sell the Mercedes to Suleman Supari (Rahul Dev) another goon who recognizes the car and alerts Faujdaar. When threatened, the terrified Guru reveals that the cash is stashed away in Ganpat’s garage. Meanwhile, Ganpat has hidden the money in a safe place to protect the money from robbers. By the time Guru and the gangster’s cronies reach the garage, Ganpat has met with an accident that has resulted in temporary memory loss and the location of the money is now unknown.

Faujdaar gives Guru a deadline of 3 days to return the money and a dejected Guru who has almost given up on his life stumbles upon Mona (Rimi Sen). Mona is a con woman who had teamed up with Guru in the past for a robbery but she had cheated him of the money and now she needs a partner again for another theft. Guru agrees and they pull off the act successfully. But for their bad luck, they lose the money due to a turn of events, and the movie goes on to a gripping climax.

The movie has way too many characters and too many twists but it does not irritate or confuse the viewer, it surprisingly entertains. Some of the comic scenes including a spoof on a south Indian item number are hilarious and the second half of the movie had me gripped to my seat. Rimi Sen can call this one of her best performances as she is the perfect con woman and plays her role to perfection. A true entertainer. Worth the 2 and a half hours spent watching it.