Director: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan
Rating: **
Aksar 2 is about an ageing millionaire, Dolly Khambatta (Lillete Dubey), a lecherous investment banker (Gautam Rode), a seductive girlfriend-turned-wife (Zareen Khan), a scheming servant (Rohit Madaan), an above-suspicion lawyer (S Sreesanth! Yes, you read that right) who all plot at different times to get into Khambatta's will.
As the film unfolds, you see that Sheena Roy (Khan) is madly in love with Khambatta's estranged nephew, Ricky (Abhinav Shukla), and both have their eye on Khambatta's millions.
To get inside her home, they need help from investment banker Patrick Sharma (Rode), which is easy as pretty girls are his weakness.
But Roy and her boyfriend are hoodwinked by Bachchan Singh (a towering, menacing Madaan), whom Khambatta considers her most loyal servant. He, however, wants to blackmail Sharma, who has access to Khambatta's will.
Zareen Khan in the role of the governess with ulterior motives is good in parts. On the other hand, Gautam Rode in his debut on the big screen, comes across as a one-trick-pony with not too many expressions on display, even though he gets to play a character with more than one shade. Lillete Dubey as the aged Madame Khambatta delivers a measured performance. Abhinav Shukla as Ricky does the best he can with his limited character sketch. Mohit Madaan as Madame Khambatta's driver is competent. Cricketer S Sreesanth who finds himself on a new pitch as Madame Khambatta's lawyer scores in his debut outing on screen.
Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan manages to steer the film's narrative in the right direction, replete with intrigue in the first half. But the second half with its innumerable twists and turns intended to keep the viewers hooked doesn't manage to do so. The writing is so weak that even a thriller is predictable. There comes a point in the film when you stop caring about the twists. The climax is predictable and the narrative towards the end slackens with the inclusion of a song. Aksar 2 is a movie that begins well but quickly crumbles to a point of no return.
Aksar 2 is a film that gets you primed in the first half but is a sad squib in the second. It's a delight for Zareen Khan's fans only and if you are one of them then you can avoid whatever has been written above.
