By: Sumesh Vasishth
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ben Kingsley, R. Madhavan, Dhruv Ganesh, Shraddha Kapoor, Siddharth Kher, Vaibhav Talwar, Saira Mohan, Raima Sen
Music Director: Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant
Story/ Screenplay/ Dialogue: Leena Yadav, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam
Producer: Ambika A Hinduja
Director: Leena Yadav
SantaBanta Rating: *1/2
There is a probability puzzle called ‘Monty Hall Problem’ which I’ll try to fit into Bollywood’s report card post My Name is Khan.
Looking for some entertainment you have already burned your fingers with duds like Toh Baat Pakki and Click, last week. This week you have two options- Teen Patti and Karthik Calling Karthik. I assume you are interested in the former (thanks to the hot item babe and the slick teaser) that’s why you have landed on this page.
Now given a choice to make a switch between the two movies, how many of you would like to trade their options? Here Mr. Monty Hall’s proverbial paradox comes handy and recommends you to make a switch and there is a greater probability that you’ll end up as a winner.
I, however, wasn’t lucky enough and went ahead with Teen Patti and I guess Monty Hall has been proved right once again. I chose a wrong movie.
Teen Patti is the story of Prof. Venkat Subramaniam (Amitabh Bachchan), a maverick but a genius nonetheless, who has devised an obscure theory of probability. One day, back in his village he receives an invitation from another Mathematics genius Perci Trachtenberg (Sir Ben Kingsley) to visit him.
The twain meet at the prestigious Cambridge University and Venkat narrates him the horrors of his ingenious discovery turning into a nightmare marred by greed and deception.
Dejected and ridiculed by his colleagues Venkat roped in junior professor Shantanu (R Madhavan) and three students Aparna aka Apu (Shraddha Kapoor), Sid (Siddharth Kher) and Bikram (Dhruv). They all go to the down market gambling dens, play the game employing the theory and win it.
But soon greed comes in and gets them all into trouble. An unknown blackmailer starts calling Subramanium and demanding a big share in the money they make from their games. The blackmailer even starts dictating which games they should play next.
Meanwhile, another richie rich student Abbas (Vaibhav) too joins the game. Subramanium starts suspecting the blackmailer to be one amongst his group members but soon a situation arises where he gets convinced it is none of them but someone else who is playing the game on him. What happens next makes up this amorphous flick.
The script is totally erratic. Lead characters keep mouthing contradictory dialogues, burst into fits of anger, hurl abuses at each other at the drop of the hat. Amitabh Bachchan leads the gang but fails to save the desultory story.
Madhavan seriously needs to work on his love handle before handling the hotties like Saira Mohan onscreen.
Brat pack (Dhruv Ganesh, Siddharth Kher, Vaibhav Talwar) and their floozie Shraddha Kapoor look raw and at times completely lost just like film's screenplay. Cameos by Raima Sen, Barry John, Jackie Shroff, Ajay Devgan and Shakti Kapoor don’t help either. Don’t expect another Gandhi from Sir Ben. He has been reduced to a mere listener here.
We hear that Leena Yadav had roped in the services of a Hollywood editor over and above her desi editor Kaushik Das. Hughes Winborne who has won an Oscar for his editing in Paul Haggis's Crash has done the 're-edit' of Teen Patti.
Has it helped the film? Yes, Winborne makes director Leena Yadav’s feckless effort to end in little over 2 hours and you thank your stars on your way out.
Let’s call spade a spade, Teen Patti is a big bluff and 21 gone wrong.
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