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Review
The film ‘Kartoos’ is about a mission to eliminate a terrorist called Jagatjogia and his outfit that has been creating terror in
Bombay by exploding bombs in public places. This top-secret mission has been code-named – ‘KARTOOS’.
Jagatjogia (Gulshan Grover) carries out his destructive activities in India while operating from London. The Indian Police are unable
to get him extradited to India and put him behind bars.
ACP Jay Suryavanshi (Jackie Shroff) seeks the confidence of his superior officer to use a criminal to get rid of Jagatjogia. The court
has sentenced this criminal - to be hanged until death. For, he is a killer who takes lives for the fun of it.
Jeet Balraj (Sanjay Dutt) is this horrible character to be pitted against the London-based master-terrorist. Jay gives Jeet a new
life. Now, Jeet must accomplish the mission or lose his life, since he is already dead in eyes of the world.
Jeet accepts the offer as he is promised a new life once the mission is accomplished. But the mission gets over only once Jeet
exterminates Jagatjogia and his gang.
Jeet, meanwhile, departs for London. On the flight, he meets Mini (Manisha Koirala). Jeet gets closer to accomplishing his mission by
eliminating associates of Jagatjogia. But he falls in love with Mini.
Jay, fearing that Jeet will not complete the mission after getting entangled with Mini, also reaches London. After a confrontation
between Jay and Jeet, Jeet kills Jagatjogia. However, Jeet comes to know about Jay's plan to kill him. He tries to run away with Mini,
but is unsuccessful.
After some fight sequences and reasoning from Mini and Jeet, Jay finally calls up his superiors at the Bombay HeadQuarters saying
“Kartoos finished, Mission over”.
And, Jay gets a new life in form of Mini.
The film has a good presentation. It has fine special effects and action scenes. The sound of bullet firing makes you feel you are
watching a Hollywood flick. Excellent on face value but lacking depth. The script is puerile and very predictable.
The background score is loud. This is what the producer must be banking on. Firoze Nadiadwala has spent a lot of money on this film,
and it shows. Will he be able to recover his investment? That is the moot question.
‘Kartoos’, probably, is the last film to be directed by Mahesh Bhatt, who has announced his retirement. One would have expected stuff
that is more engrossing in this final film from him.
The film's music is composed by three music directors including late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, but all the songs are average.
As far as acting is concerned, both Jackie Shroff and Sanjay Dutt are impressive in their roles. The confrontation between them is the
highlight of the film. They both have a palpable screen presence, which is evident when they come on the screen. Manisha Koirala has
done a decent job but her repeated use of “You see” starts irritating the viewer. Jaspal Bhatti adds some comedy to the film, which
cannot be called hilarious.
Those who like to see a lot of ‘maardhad’ will relish ‘Kartoos’ |