Acid Factory : Wake Up Gupta!
Manoj Bajpai in Acid Factory
Acid Factory
Cast: Fardeen Khan pursing his lips, many gents in shades of black, olive and brown, Dia Mirza wearing karela-juice colour contact lenses, cars, cars, cars
Director: Suparn Verma
Rating: One and a half stars
No, no. This couldn’t possibly be producer Sanjay Gupta ki Aag!..but what to do? Bar bar cars jump in the Cape Town air like circus acrobats, halt, then achieve a somersault and then break into great balls of fire. Yikes, you can smell the burning tyre.
Choke, so dozens of cars go up in smoke. So what if you have witnessed these a gazillion times, like in those Abbas-Mustan race lulus race? Like it or not, producer Sanjay Gupta, director Suparn Verma and stunt master Tinu Varma appear to believe that there’s nothing more exciting than a four-wheeler in flames. Ummm, that’s Acid Factory for you, then, filched without so much as half an acknowledgement from Unknown (2006), an indie B-grader that had lived up to its name.
So might this Tehzab Karkhana you suspect. Because through its running time of 95 minutes (seems loooooooonger though), you can’t fathom who the hell is doing what to whom and whatever for. How on earth to distinguish the baddies from the absolute maddies? You’re merely locked up in this enormous warehouse where Fardeen Khan wakes up to discover that he has temporary memory loss. Five more Ghajini Hero Types rise, shine and get as bristly as porcupines. Ouch grouch.
Indeed, you don’t know why the factorywallas are on strike, why this huge industrial paradise is abandoned and why a toxic gas should affect only the memory glands. No wonder, Fardeen ramping it out there in out-of-vogue leather jackets,is befuddled. Aftab Shivadasani wakes up slowly while Dino Morea (wearing a hat indoors..was there a draft?) does so surely. Dear Manoj Bajpayee is chained to something or the other, plus he has tomato ketchup on his face. And the ace, of course is Danny Denzongpa strapped to a chair, but SMILING like a dentist’s delight. Cheeeeeese!
Meanwhile, there are these flashbak-baks saying five weeks earlier, three weeks earlier, mmm, one week earlier, which scramble your mental arithmetic. Do dooni chaalis anyone? And outside that padlocked warehouse, waiting to pop up on the scene, are Irrfan Khan (looking as pleased as Punch travelling in a limousine) and his aide, a Backless Catsuit Lady (Dia Mirza, ha ha ha ha ha ha). Dhan te na, Limousine and Backless even kiss, like two goldfish in a bowl. So bowlarious this.
Yesteryear’s Baaaaad Man, Gulshan Grover, is an Expressionless Cop for a change. Honestly, don’t expect any kind of screenplay sustenance here. Since it’s a Gupta production, though, you can expect to sight a row of dudes walking towards the camera, looking as if they wanted to rough up the director. You can also expect a pole dance with white women, cuts to a scalding hot Lamborgini-plus-hot bikes, and you can certainly anticipate the dialogue to include in a limitless number of hey brother and yaaars. Compared to this Gupta Gyaan, Kaante was Ben-Hur. How you long to rent its DVD immediately. Its music still plays in your ears. Factory’s be-bops vanish instantly.
Needless to lament, Gupta and his directors have to wake up and smell the cappuccino fast. Those berserk camera angle and chip-chop editing cuts are passe now. A story of some purpose and emotional content is a must if the producer and his team are to evolve. Occasionally, there is something unconventional about his work, yes, but it’s limited to technique.
Of the cast, Fardeen Khan, Dino Morea and Dia Mirza are extremely tiresome to watch. Ms Mirza, again, seems to be more interested in cosmetics than emoting. Danny sir and Irrfan saab look as if they’ve wandered into a children’s tea party. Surprisingly, Aftab Shivdasani is pretty convincing and confident. Not suprisingly, Manoj Bajpayee with his ability to take the script to another level, is consistently credible.
At some point, someone asks, “What are we doing here?” If you make the mistake of visiting the factory, so will you. For sure.
Tags: Acid Factory, Acid Factory Movie Review, danny, Dia Mirza, Fardeen Khan, Manoj Bajpai, sanjay gupta, Suparn Verma
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Does a reviewer’s job include
1) Giving ratings
2) Proclaiming whats good/bad, when its totally subjective
3) Giving a review right after the movie is released affecting the film’s fortunes.
4) Proclaiming who is a good actor and who is not, when even if it being technical, again is subjective
5) Taking personal grudges to the review, making it completely biased
In this case, since Suparn Verma is the director and is also prevalent on PFC, the guns are directed at Gupta instead
O Boy! Reminds me of those TOI review days! Sharp, straightforward and above all FUN! Keep hanging in there, your reviews have always been a stress buster!
He used to use word rhymes in his review in those days. “The conversations do not give you a high. Sigh!”
“The acting makes you want to have cockroach soup & bheja-fry. Cry!”
Something like that
With all due respect, like the chip-chop edits in Gupta’s movies, Mr. Mohammed’s use of puns are passe as well. I really do long for a real review. Not exploited opportunities to play with words and poke fun, regardless of who the filmmakers may be.
Ahhh Khalid saab..this is why i loved your reviews…is there anyone in the review business today who can pull off reviews like this..the comedy in every line..love it..
BTW..didnt see Acid Factory yet..
yes it is obviously a pathetic movie..but such silly movies also work at times…but AF hasn’t…that is because of the lead actors…Gupta & co must realize that nobody wants to see people like Dino, Fardeen & Aftab in lead roles…& anyway is it too difficult 2 say thanks 2 the original?…
I think there are a lot of similar movies been made in past. Mostly it runs around 3-4 guys facing some common issues, thus uniting to face it, with lot of guns, actions, unreal situations and occasional dance and songs thrown in.
On a second thought these kind o movies have come from Sanjay, Abbas Mastan and similar directors, and usually employ similar actors, Fardeen, Dino, Aftab, AAshish Choudhary and company.
Seriously, these similar movies never really make me think of spending my money on them.
Ahh..do something different for a change Sanjay…..how about a non-action film
I don’t know about them but after reading the synopsis of Acid Factory I suspected it to be ‘inspired’ from Unknown (James Caviezel and Bridget Moynahen) and Khalid saab confirmed it.
Kachra movie , bundle movie , dabba movie !!
Hey Khalid – How about a review for Wake up sid? I’ve been following your reviews since TOI and looks like you skipped over to pfc the week Sid released…its a little late but never too late to review one of the better releases this year
If a reviewer, just lets off a copy movie with only writing a line that “It is inspired from “XYZ” film, then I don’t think he is doing his work in the right manner.
For a movie like “Acid Factory” which is unofficially ripped off from “Unknown” scene to scene…..I think all the veteran reviewers should just refuse to review the movie as it is not an original work in the first place.
Why you should review a movie which is actually the hard work of another creative person who is completely out of the picture and his credit is being taken over by an entirely unrelated person.
If its an official remake then its fine, but if its not then there is no way to consider it worth reviewing at all.
bobby sing
I comletely agree with u bobby!!! such films shudn’t be reviewed!!
without such movies being reviewed, how would you know to stay away from them? not everyone would come to pfc to realise its a ripoff from unknown.
if only sanjay gupta had taken Sunil Shetty in Irfan’s role and Zayed Khan in Manoj Bajpai’s role and Aashish Choudhary in Danny’s role, this movie would have been a cult classic
It could have been the dummy’s guide to film acting
btw i havent seen the movie yet
Hi Mr Khalid Sir,
U neutralized the Acid attack with Alkali.
Well!! I saw the movie. It’s little absurd.
But it goes in the Funema. Ain’t it?
In ur Fiza also such absurdities existed while the Beauty queen SS appears form nowhere to sing.
Well!! I’m presenting a {C++ song for ur perusal.
Dhundo mere liye bhi ek dilvar
Kaash mera bhi hota ek dilvar || C||
Har subah jagu darde badanse
Aur paanv ladkhadaye adhuri nindse
Zanku aaineme aur gidgidaun
Mera kya hashra hoga ai Khuda
Maine kiya tera sabhi haq ada
Lekin mai hun kisi bhi rahat se juda || 1 ||
Karta hun badi mehanat
par har din laaye ek nayi tohamat
Itana pisata hun ke haddiya meri kare karrkarahat
Pura ho jab mahina
to mile mera mehantana
Jo hota hai sirf mera, sirf mera khun pasina
Mere Raam tumhare saamane tekata hun ye ghutana
Aur karu aansubhari yaachana
mere liye bhi arrange ho jaaye ek swayanvar || 2 ||
Har dinka rona ghutana pisana
sabhi ka meri vo hansi udana
Unhe lagu mai koi paagal diwana jisake dimaag me bhar ho bhusa
meri akal ko sabne kosa
mera kar sakena koi bharousa
Par mai hun chust
Mai hun badahi mast
Ab rahanewal nahi hun mai jarabhi sust
Ek baar pichhe chhodu ye daldal
To milega muzebhi meri Sush ka dil || 3||
Ur site doesn’t support transliteration, u c.
(I’m a musician too.)
awesome review…. Treat to read… Keep them coming sir
Awesome review KM…loved it…more than the film..
this movie maybe terrible but no denying Kaante was something else.
and there won’t be movie like kaante in near future
DVD GUPTA FACTORY presents `A’ SHIT FACTORY…
Hey, I am still awaiting your Wake Up Sid review. It got lost somewhere in the switching.
Hey Khalid:) grew up reading ur reviews and finally had u review my film:) have framed ur review.
Wont disappoint you next time will frame that one next to this one. Cheers:)
“My” film? That was pretty “UNKNOWN”