Shortcut Romeo Movie Review

Story: A jobless ruffian hits gold when he spots a millionaire memsaab having an extra-marital affair. He blackmails, she betrays - spinning into an endless chase for lust, love and money.

Movie Review: Welcome to the wild - lions, zebras, giraffes, deer, and leopards aplenty (film is shot in the stunning landscapes of Maasai Mara, Kenya). And of course, amongst them all lives the beastly man who hunts, hacks and kills his own kin for survival. This story has one such fierce and furious being called Suraj (Neil). His aimless life takes a sudden turn when he spots Monica (Ameesha), a wealthy businessman's biwi (leading a sexless life) playing 'ball-games' at night (read: golf). Suraj sleazily captures her one-night 'sexcapade' with her golf-trainer, and blackmails her into being his lifelong ATM. He takes off on a vacation to Kenya, where he meets Sherry (Puja) and love blossoms (surprise!). Suddenly turning from loafer to loverboy; greedy for pyaar over paisa. At the other end, Mona darlin' gives him a tough run for his maal and gal, which ends up in a wild chase where everyone falls prey to the call of the beast.

Susi Ganesh has attempted to 'Bollywoodize' his first Hindi film (remake of Tamil film Thiruttu Payale). Desperately throwing in Munnis, Sheilas & Jalebi bais - of Kenyan origin. There are twists and (blind) turns, over-dramatized scenes with little shock value that's mostly predictable. The supporting cast and dialogues (sample this: "Ek baar karogi toh galti lagegi, baar baar karogi toh style ban jayega". Oof!) paralyze the feeble screenplay. Kenya is well shot; action junkies may enjoy some fight sequences and the climax saves the day. The songs puncture the pace and the plot doesn't pulsate with the edginess of a thriller.

Neil performs well as always, he looks good (he needs to tone down his physicality for such roles) and proves that actors like him need better scripts to justify their true potential. Ameesha is competent in her evil element. Puja makes a pretty picture with little scope to perform.

We wish the director had found a shortcut to tell this story of love,(extra-marital) sex and dhoka.