Khan the Con (2010)
"Tees Maar Khan" (original title)

Don't worry I don't intend to dish out spoilers, giving away the synopsis or plot or even a hint on the story line. The movie opens with Sanjay Dutt narrating the hind sight into the protagonist's current state of affairs. I was wondering why Sanjay Dutt's voice was chosen, my roommate was kind enough to educate me on this choice. To start with Sanjay Dutt's voice is kind of synonymous with the comical negative character (read gangster, thief ...), attributed to the fame of Munna of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. The start to the movie though does not leave a bad taste in the mouth, is not what a comedy flick should begin with.

The movie lacks a theme or story line that would inherently support the intended comedy. For most part of the movie it seemed that the actors are trying in desperation to make the audience laugh. For example, a meeting of top cops of Mumbai chaired by the commissioner discusses the possibility (or a lack) of ancient treasures getting stolen. Gibberish is introduced in the form of a participant interrupting the speaker every few seconds. These puns cry for a few laughs at best, and in time become annoying.

Akshay Kumar seems to have made a resolve to sink deeper with every new comedy flick; TMK adds value to that resolve. With such frivolous plot, the burden of carrying the movie rested solely on the shoulders of the actors, and they have done a fine job of letting that slip. Katrina Kaif with little or no role in the plot was intentionally brought in for her dancing prowess. I would suggest she take more dance classes before venturing this path again. Moving on to Akshaye Kanna, I'm not sure as to the link between his role and comical intent of the movie. His claim of donning a guest role in this movie is weak, he is present on screen through most of second half. This movie probably will do more damage to his acting career than fix it. The background scores and the songs are definitely not worth mentioning, half the numbers are remixes thus taking away the need for remix artists and DJs. None of the songs are worth humming, even the sticky "Sheila ki Jawani" with its bad hinglish lyrics. The movie sports an occasional burst of a kid shouting "Tees Maar Khan", ruining the few laughs for your money.

TMK is bad rip from a 1966 movie "After the fox", which was a fun movie with character. TMK's story line is like evoking laughter by beating below the belt. The script fails to build the lead actor's character and hence does not muster any sort of harmony from the audience; it fails to evoke any kind of sympathy for the lead role as the story line jumps from comical to scary and to serious. The transitions, being abrupt keep the audience guessing the genre of the movie through its length.

Half way through the movie the story line, actors, guest actors completely lose direction and wander in different direction. Some sequences either have no bearing on the movie or lack the chaining required in storytelling. The director seems to have lost the purpose when it crosses the half way mark. Many of the obvious realities have been over looked or abandoned to make room for mindless comedy which by the ways fails to make people laugh.

A few takeaways from the movie, There are many ways to make the audience laugh; this probably is the worst way. Now that the benchmark for the worst, other would only need to just do incrementally better. This movie is a must watch to expand your scales for rating movies. I have expended time and money in watching this movie, I urge you to watch this movie to make me look less gullible.