The Chasing Iamb

The Plot
Tashi (Imran Khan) lives in a grimy room with friends Nitin and Arup. His girlfriend Sonia (Shenaz Treasurywala) accidentally becomes a mule for diamond smugglers. Through a series of unfortunate events, the smugglers (Vijay Raaz and others) get Nitin’s stool sample instead. The boys are now on the run. Tashi’s risk-loving new pal Menaka (Poorna Jaggannathan) gets mixed up too. Happily.

+10 To Abhinay deo for somehow making , almost-impossible return to a decent, well-paced movie after the so-bad-itwas- surreal disaster called Game.

+10 To Akshat Varma for the largely relaxed dialogue in which four-letter words are merely the affectionate, social lubricant that greases the moderately competent script. This is the first time we have seen Hinglish working well.

+7 For Kunal Roy Kapoor’s Nitin: who is comfortingly furry and grouchy like a big bearded Oscar from Sesame Street. You have to agree when he says the red car looks like a donkey f**ked an auto.

+10 To the brilliant soundtrack. we are almost tempted to violate our deeply secret arithmetic formulae to give it more points.

-6 For the shit and flatulence. sure it was ‘integral to the plot and the script demanded it’ but we are old and grouchy.

+5 To the gangster gags breadstick, paper bag and all. We will soon be sick of the Tarantino-meets-Guy Ritchie variety of villain but not when Vijay Raaz says ‘chup kar Barrister Vinod’ with such barely controlled vitriol.

+8 For menaka smart, funny, slightly self-destructive and the go-to-girl when you are on the run from the mob. We would give her points for not looking like any heroine we have seen in years. Wish she had better lines though.

+7 For allowing Vir Das to be slight and neurotic. His interactions with his boss are forgettable but crown him with rubies for his oral-pleasure giving Disco Fighter fantasy.

-10 For the most lazily plotted denouement we have seen since Game. How ridiculous is the boys strolling out of the hotel after the shootout scene?

+7 For Imran Khan, who does a good job though his character is a cipher. Why does he go from being sort of a slacker to sort of a hero? You are never told. If only he could smile convincingly. Unclench, boy, unclench.