by Sonia Chopra

Director: Ajay Chandok
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Kim Sharma
Rating *

Nope. Not even its numerologically altered title can save the film from the truth. Which is, that it belongs to a decade ago, and it shows. And is therefore completely incongruous with today's times of changed sensibilities and an audience that is used to sampling far superior films.

Sure, Sanjay Dutt is adorable as ever, but even he can't enthuse any life in this cliched, tried-several-times-before formulaic comedy. Johny (Sanjay Dutt) and Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) are two petty thieves who overhear a dying man (Avtar Gill) give clues to a 30 crore booty.

It appears that the cash is hidden in a hotel called Roxy in the accounts department. Both Johny and Jimmy get jobs as waiters in the hotel in order to get to the money. They keep playing silly games of one-upmanship against one another and meanwhile they also fall in love.

Predictably, one falls for the hotel's owner Pooja (Bipasha Basu) and the other with her friend Kim (Kim Sharma). Plenty of inane situations, crude jokes and love songs later, we realize that Pooja's uncle Balram (Shakti Kapoor) is the villain who's hidden the dough.

He has three cronies, played by Mukesh Rishi, Aasif Sheikh and Shiva. One of the cronies is named Jazzy and his dialogue-a-minute is "I am Jazzy, not crazy".

A reminder of films a decade or so back, where it was mandatory for villains to have a weirdo hairstyle and a unique dialogue which they spouted with comic vengeance.

Meanwhile, Balram is found to be mysteriously dead and the action shifts to Mauritius (equals to ample shots of foreigners in bikinis). How the duo gets to the booty with the help of Balram's corpse fills the remainder of the film.

It's torturous to see Saif Ali Khan in a role like this; in a film like this. After his performances in Dil Chahta Hai and Omkara, the audience has newfound respect for this talented actor. This film, which he must have signed ages ago, does no justice to his inherent potential, which was true of most of his earlier films.

Bipasha Basu and Kim Sharma have typical heroine roles, with a few dialogues, glam clothes, and a couple of sexy songs here and there. Shakti Kapoor as Balram is reminiscent again of old-time villains with the sunglasses, loads of gold chains etcetera.

However, he does well in the scenes where his corpse has `perform' , like dancing and driving a car. Sanjay Dutt is the one who is expected to carry the film across, and he does give an earnest performance. But the juvenile comedy and done-to-death story fails him.

The direction is strictly ok, and it unfortunately doesn't have its own individual style and flavour. You can see Nehlle Pe Dehlla and feel you've seen a million like this before.

The technical aspect is disappointing. The cinematography is mediocre, and the dialogues are often out of sync. The songs are ok, but nothing you'll be humming out of the theatre.