When two legends of world cinema share screen space, one expects sparks to fly. However, after two hours and twenty minutes of 'Teen Patti', the only sparks that flew were from the audience. And most of them took the form of cuss words because everyone felt cheated.
Taking a cue from the Kevin Spacey thriller '21', the movie tells the story of a mathematics professor, who is shunned by his colleagues and dean. The man chances upon a probability formula that allows him to predict card games and soon enough finds him embroiled in a game of blackmailing and deceit alongside a colleague and a few students.
However, that's where the similarities stop. While the Hollywood thriller tracks a greedy professor and his students who learn card-counting and use it to make a fortune in Las Vegas, Leena Yadav's film meanders along at such a slow pace that at several points you feel like kicking the backsides of the characters to get them going.
Sample the scene where one of the protagonists commits suicide and the senior professor walks into the room. The camera lazily follows Bachchan till he kneels down beside the body. There are at least 10 editing cuts in the scene that ends up looking comic rather than poignant. No wonder Bachchan looks more lost than anguished that sequence! The sequences are lethargic which makes the story move at a slow pace. Sad, because there was potential for fast-paced action in the story.
None of the characters are well etched out with Ben Kingsley almost reduced to playing a "Guest Appearance" in the film. In fact, Indian cinema should collectively apologize to the Oscar winner for the manner they have treated him. I am sure Kingsley will not touch another Indian film offer with even a barge-pole!
Director Leena Yadav who seemed confused while handling another interesting theme in 'Shabd' (2005) has proved beyond doubt that she cannot tell a coherent story. The problem is not that the movie cuts back and forth between Bachchan's flashback to Kingsley and his travails as an unwilling gambler. Even while narrating the past, one has to really concentrate to figure what each of the characters is up to? Her clichéd use of random mathematical formulas to indicate a ticking mind is offensive to an actor of Bachchan's abilities.
As for the support cast, the less said the better as none of them could even match a dodo with their facial expressions! R. Madhavan hams his way and in some instances so does the Bachchan, who has of late started using high decibels (read loud) in lieu of intensity. Remember the way he screams in some scenes of 'Black' and 'The Last Lear'?
The movie thrusts a bunch of guest appearances with the likes of Ajay Devgn, Jackie Shroff, Mahesh Manjrekar, Ranjit, Shakti Kapoor and Tinnu Anand making fleeting appearances during card games that Bachchan and his band plays out.
However, the crowning piece of stupidity comes towards the fag end of the film. Kingsley and Bachchan, who converse in English throughout the movie suddenly change track and start talking in Hindi. Now, if you are wondering how Kingsley got to speak the language, it came with a little help from Boman Irani who has dubbed those lines. My question though is why give Kingsley Hindi lines in the last five minutes of the film where he has spoken English throughout the previous two hours? Does Yadav think that her audience is stupid not to understand the final twist? That is, if one could describe that as a twist in the first place!
The movie has so many flaws, that one could create a laundry list right here. For a die-hard fan who grew up on Amitabh Bachchan's films, the only reason that I have to thank the director is that after 50 years in the film industry, this is probably the first time that Bachchan plays a south Indian! He is Venkat Subramaniam and not Vijay Pal Singh or Vijay Dinanath Chauhan or Vijay Verma!
In the final analysis, I would borrow the words of Chatur Ramalingam (3 Idiots) and say it was absolute "Balatkar" that was committed. Not just on the audience but on two legendary actors and a pulsating story that had the potential of providing edge-of-the-seat entertainment.
