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  • Saptarishi Dutta
Movie poster

Friday’s Bollywood release, “Rush,” is about a journalist who gets in trouble with criminals for his over-zealous reporting. The film was directed by Shamin Desai, who died before it could be completed. The movie stars Emraan Hashmi as Samar Grover, a crime reporter. Sagarika Ghatge, plays the role of Ahana Sharma, Samar’s girlfriend. Samar’s life changes when Lisa Kapoor, played by Neha Dhupia, and media baron Roger Khanna, played by Aditya Pancholi, decide to hire him.

Here is what critics had to say about the movie:

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama felt the plot was similar to another Bollywood flick, Blood Money, which released earlier this year. Mr. Adarsh opines that the plot had the potential of becoming an “invigorating tale” but that it fails to capitalize on its great start as it “meanders into the predictable zone”. For Mr. Adarsh, “RUSH looks like a rushed job.”

He lauds Mr. Hashmi for his performance in the movie: “Enacting the role of a crime journalist, the actor looks perfect for this part and the character is relatable as well.” Mr. Adarsh was also impressed with the performances of Ms. Dhupia and Mr. Pancholi.

Mr. Adarsh wasn’t a fan of the music, finding some of the songs redundant and “forced in the narrative.” Except “Fukra,” all the other songs “don’t resonate after a while,” he writes. However, he was impressed with the background score and described it as “electrifying.” Mr. Adarsh gave the movie two stars out of five.

A review in NDTV notes that the theme was an old one, seen plenty of times before in other Bollywood movies. “Rush has the bone though not enough meat to make for a juicy fare on the excesses of television journalism,” it said.

The reviewer did note that, despite having “sluggish chunks,” the plot gathers steam in the second half. But the climax of the movie is still not “edge-of-the-seat,” it adds.

The review praised Mr. Hashmi and Ms. Dhupia for their performance but found Mr. Pancholi “unintentionally hilarious.” The review gave the movie three stars out of five.

Apurv Bhatia, in a review in Koimoi, says the direction was “okay,” and that the film was devoid of the “intensity and the grip” that define thrillers. He, too, found the music was disappointing and not compelling enough for a thriller.

He agreed with other critics that what saved the film was the acting of Mr. Hashmi and Ms. Dhupia. Labeling the movie as “half-baked,” Mr. Bhatia gave the movie one-and-a-half stars out of five.

Rohit Khilnani of Rediff found the movie unrealistic in its portrayal of the media business. Rush, he writes, failed to get the “basic facts right.” He liked Mr. Hashmi in the movie as he “plays his part with honesty” but adds this is not enough to make the movie really worth watching. He gave the movie only one star out of five.

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