Writer: Janak

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Watch this if you liked: “Baadshah”, “Main Hoo Naa”, “Singh Is Kinng”

Adapted from Hollywood's 1966 Peter Sellers comedy "After The Fox", it tells the story of Tabriz Khan aka Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar), the most successful con man in India who must perform the biggest heist of his life for international antique smugglers, the Johri Brothers to return a favour. To make his mastermind plan work, he disguises himself as a film director and lands in a village name Dhuliya. Once there, he manages to persuade the entire population of the village into thinking that he's filming a movie and makes them act in a scene in which they are made to loot from the heavily secured running train filled with the actual antique treasures. To make his plan more believable, he even gets an Oscar-hungry Bollywood superstar Aatish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna) to act in his fake film opposite his girlfriend and a wannabe actress Anya (Katrina Kaif). It is just matter of time when the truth actually prevails.

After a string of comedy films, Akshay Kumar might bore audiences this time around as he does not seem to change his style of acting and the gorgeous Katrina Kaif's acting skills still need to be polished tremendously. Meanwhile, Akshaye Khanna gives a terrific performance as a struggling actor. His facial expressions will keep audiences entertained most of the time. If you were wondering who the film's narrator is, it is Sanjay Dutt. Salman Khana makes a cameo appearance in one of the songs as well.

Director Farah Khan should just to stick to dance choreography as she seems to have lost her groove. The song sequences are well done but the film plot and direction falls flat completely. The first half looks promising but as intermission kicks in, the film looks like it has lost its direction.

Akshay Kumar's production house Hari Om takes over from Red Chillies for special effects. There are attempts of good action and comedy sequences, but perhaps with proper writing and direction, it could have been done better.

In terms of the cinematography, there are some new concepts used, especially in the title song and the hot number performed by Katrina. The title song by Sonu Nigam is catchy and has also been said to be unique because Sonu performed over 50 voices in the particular song itself. "Sheila Ki Jawani" by Sunidhi Chauhan is definitely the highlight of the film. It will give previous hottest number "Munni Badhnam Huyi" from "Dabanng" a run for its money. Other songs like "Bade Dilwala" by Suhwinder Singh and Shreya Ghosal and also "Everybody's Looking For A Happy Ending" by Abhijeet Sawant and Debojit Saha are energetic, toe-tapping numbers as well. Kudos to music director Vishal-Shekhar for providing a great soundtrack.

It is reported that a sequel is already in works but perhaps it is better if the director just get back to her favourite muse Shahrukh Khan again for future projects to avoid further disappointments. Overall, "Tees Maar Khan" failed miserably when pitted against Farah's earlier films.

Cinema Online, 27 December 2010