Gumnaam: The Mystery

As cheesy as it is 'Gumnaam: The Mystery' isn't as bad as many have made it out to be, if compared to the usual Bollywood thriller (which are truly awful). Comparing it to Hollywood, European or Japanese thrillers would be a mistake because one would just be expecting too much. It is very Bollywoody film and the 'filmy' twists are like what you expect in such movies but at the same time, it didn't bore me. The execution is very 90s Bollywood, with songs appearing now and then and of course, plot holes and lack of character development. I liked the melodious soundtrack which features two or three very good songs. Mahima Chaudhry turns in a decent performance and sizzles on screen. I only wish that she would do more meaningful movies that showcase her talent rather than waste her effort in movies like this. Dino Morea is the typical Bollywood hero and is nothing outstanding here. Suman Ranganath has a half-baked ill-defined role but she makes the best of it and pulls it off. Expect lots of unintentional humour from 'Gumnaam: The Mystery' and a bit of Bollywood suspense, then you can even enjoy the cheesiness rather than frustrate yourself.

Okay, so this is supposed to be a thriller, err, sorry, a "mystery" thriller... Well, there IS indeed some kind of mystery here, like: "Where did it (the mystery) go?" It's just your usual, ordinary (for a thriller) story, with a few (wanna-be) twists; though, I must say, it wasn't really THAT badly done. (Which is why I rated it 5 out of 10) (Well, at least they tried, gotta give them that...) But, if you have watched a few Indian (aka 'Bollywood') movies of this kind, you know how the story goes and what to expect. Compared to some others it's actually not so terrible, but, just the same, it's not really great either. One of the good things about it is that there's few songs. (At least from what I remember...^^) But it's nothing worth wasting your time with. Unless you're a Dino Morea-fan and like to see him without his shirt. ^^ Concerning the actors and actresses, I think they tried to do/did the best with what they got (as a script - ... - they DO get one, don't they??!). And at that, they did okay. Though none of them impressed me. Who knows what this movie might have been with a better script... But, then again, it might have lost it's 'Bollywood movie'-charm. (Don't get me wrong here, I LOVE 'Bollywood' movies!) All in all, you can watch it, if you've got nothing better to do. But, if you don't see it, you don't have to worry about missing out on something.

one of the worst films I have seen in a long time. It starts off as a copy of the Hollywood film 'Urban Legends' but attempts to be original by switching things up a bit, it all goes downhill from there. An up and coming actress answers a casting call in a nearby village and shows up there without her entourage only to be kidnapped and implicated in a murder story. Sounds ridiculous? That's because it is. Dino acted horribly as did Mahima Choudry who seems to always be playing an actress in all the film roles I've seen her in of recent. Suman Raganathan was the strongest actress of in film but she is given little to do other than to show up 80 minutes too late into the film, scheming and conniving. Skip this one or you'll hate yourself for even considering it. You'll find yourself laughing for all the wrong reasons, especially at the action sequences that seem like they're straight out of an F-rate 1920s silent movie. Ugh!