Baazi (Wager)

A collage of scenes and story lines from several other movies, improbable scenes and effects - policemen who are being fired upon by terrorists trying to put out a fire, a satellite-dish which electrocutes a man, shoes which change from high-heels to flat-heels in the middle of a dance-: the kind of thing that Hindi movie fans and fanatics have come to love are found in abundance in this new movie starring Aamir Khan.
Aamir Khan has been fairly silent for a while and we have seen him in just one movie after his super hit "Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke" (We are the travellers of love) and that was the double-Khan starrer "Andaz Apna,Apna" (Styles of their own). "Baazi" has been billed as the first "action" movie by Aamir Khan and I have no intention of contending that as he does indeed indulge in a lot of beating up and getting beaten up (instead of his standard one fight per movie routine) but I would like to say that all the iron he is reported to have pumped in preparation for this movie seems to have done him little good. He does remove his shirt a la Salman Khan in one fight sequence but we don't see those rippling muscles that we are supposed to see.
Aamir also does a bit of cross-dressing and poses as a woman in part of the movie and is very convincing indeed. Hmm... maybe he's got something there.... Maybe he should stick to female roles in the future! 'Nuff nitpicking! On to the story!
The story is about an honest cop (ooh, how original!), played by Aamir Khan, who is trying to guard a minister (Raza Murad) who is sniffing out corruption in the government. The man behind all the corruption is his own deputy (Paresh Rawal) and incidentally he is the same guy who wiped out Aamir's family when Aamir was very young (another original idea used quite a lot in Hindi movies). Anyway, Aamir is pursued by a female TV reporter (Mamta Kulkarni) who comes up with all sorts of ingenious plots to get Aamir Khan alone but how she is to get an interview with him when there are no cameras present, is left up to the viewer's imagination.
The music score by Anu Malik is good but as it happens these days a lot with Anu (maybe the guy is overworked - what with all those movies that he's been taking on) you keep on wondering, "Haven't I heard that tune somewhere before?" I guess there's nothing like an already tried and tested tune, now is there? The songs are catchy and should be at least comfortable hits if they don't make mega hit status.
This movie has the same slick westernish look that director Ashutosh Gowariker's first film, "Pehla Nasha" (First intoxication) showed (the look is not there throughout the movie folks, but wherever it appears, it does look good!) but I hope "Baazi" doesn't share the same fate as "Pehla Nasha" which was a super flop.
The film is a must-see for all the Aamir Khan fans out there but if you are expecting the doe-eyed lover boy of "Dil" and "Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak", you are in for a rude shock. It is an enjoyable movie (except for all those improbabilities but in a Hindi movie I guess you've got to expect that and it does make one laugh, you know!) and is better than most and who knows, you might even love it!