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Bombay To Bangkok : Movie Review
18th Jan 2008 23.01 IST
By Nikhil Kumar

In the season of brainless comedies, Nagesh Kukunoor’s rom-com Bombay To Bangkok strives to be different. And it is indeed different to the extent that you will scowl at the “funny” scenes, and laugh at those meant to be serious.

Kukunoor’s sense of humour is not the kind an average Bollywood joe is used to. The sight of fried insects and similar gastronomic wonders of Thailand, so often highlighted in the film, is neither funny nor pleasing to the eye. At best, it makes the popcorn you just munched want to come out. Nor is hilarious the sequence of a quack prescribing Viagra to people and himself getting weak-kneed in front of a sexy massage girl.

Something is definitely amiss in this supposedly light-hearted entertainer. And it is Nagesh Kukunoor ’s attempt to be different. His straying away from what he is best at (sensible and inspiring films like Iqbal and Dor ) and his steering back into the masala genre he previously tried in the mis-adventurous ‘Bollywood Calling’.

Enough of brickbats for now. Here is the story.

Shankar ( Shreyas Talpade ), a small-time cook in desperate need of money, steals from none other than a dreaded don ( Naseeruddin Shah ), who unleashes his goons and a bling-savvy son to catch the thief.

With the don’s men on his trail, Shankar masquerades as a doctor and leaves for Bangkok with a team of real docs on a charitable mission. There, the quack falls for a beautiful Thai girl Jasmine (Lena Christensen), a medical volunteer who works as a sex worker in a massage parlour at night.

As romantic sparks fly between Shankar and Jasmine, she gets willy-nilly drawn into Shankar’s troubles.

In all honesty, ‘Bombay To Bangkok’ does have a few hilarious moments. The track between the don’s son, JamK (Vijay Maurya) – an aspiring but tortuous rapper – and a wacky, romantic shrink (Jeneva Talwar) leave you in splits. And there are other scenes that evoke sporadic spurts of laughter. But mostly the humour remains slapstick and utterly juvenile. Like in the sequence in which the two lovers (Shankar and Jasmine) make fun of words from each other’s language.

Shreyas Talpade puts in a sincere performance but is not supported by a solid script. Lena Christensen is eye-candy. Her role doesn’t put much demand on her in terms of acting. Anyway, she doesn’t have more than a selected few expressions on her face throughout the film.

Vijay Maurya is good. Manmeet Singh (playing Rachinder, Talpade’s buddy and translator) chips in some good humour. Naseeruddin Shah is hardly there.

‘Bombay To Bangkok’ also suffers from forgettable music, mediocre cinematography and poor production values.

If you are looking for an entertaining weekend, this film is not the answer.

Rating: **

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Bombay To Bangkok
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