Movie Review: Teen Patti

If 700 monkeys typed for 700 years, one of them would come up with 'Sholay'. Give them a week, and six would come up with 'Teen Patti'.

'Teen Patti' falls short of a winning hand thanks to its utterly unexceptional screenplay. The film is disappointing and fake, because its intentions are predictable as its characters are uninspired. Flat on substance, 'Teen Patti' stars screen greats Ben Kingsley and Amitabh Bachchan, who as actors are flatly impossible not to root for. But the longer this film lasts the less patience we have to stay with them. Its sad to see that a film with such brilliant casting is so dependent on antiquated screen gimmicks.

The culprit here is undoubtedly Shiv Kumar Subramanium's screenplay, which is a simplistic, predictable morality tale. Subramanium has written such excellent films as 'Parinda', '1942 A Love Story', 'Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi', 'Chameli and 'Hazaroon Khwashein Aisi', but 'Teen Patti' is thoroughly disposable and stinks of superficial thrills. Most Bollywood writers simply pay homage, and their movies come across as copies or throwbacks, but Subramanium's movies work because he understands the innards of drama, and the absurd situations that people can get into. This time around, Subrabamium borrows heavily from the Ben Mezrich book 'Bringing down the house', and the end result is a sudsy, generic effort.

Coming to the story - Big B is a failed mathematician who one day doles out a probability theory that cracks the gambling code. Along with a bunch of his students, he heads to casinos for practical exams, unmindful of the fact that the kids have been possessed by the get-rich-quick ghost. Thrown in are Ben Kingsley, who listens like his life depended on it and Madhavan doing an Aamir Khan, playing a young lad. There was plenty from Mezrich's book and even the movie '21' to create a fantastic Bollywood film, but was thrown out the window and replaced with a story of inner-team rivalries and sexcapades.

'Teen Patti' is replete with all kinds of insider lingo, underground dens and casinos that go a long way toward painting a convincing portrait of the gambling world. However it becomes claustrophobic and repetitive after a point and you want to shout out 'Hey, dazzle us with a movie, don't shove it down our throats!' Leena Yadav's direction is pointedly flamboyant while Aseem Bajaj's camera desperately wants to clone Dev D. The bunch of newcomers Dhruv Ganesh, Siddharth Kher, Vaibhav Talwar are alright, with Shraddha Kapoor being the pick of the lot. Big B is a snazzier version of his character from 'The Last Lear' while Kingsley focuses all his Oscar-winning talent on nodding.

Final verdict? 'Teen Patti' is a disappointing mediocrity. Its a messy concoction of flash and bang with zero substance. You're better off playing Teen Patti on Facebook.