Review: Don't 'Chase' this one

Film: Chase
Director: Jag Mundhra
Cast: Anuuj Saxena, Udita Goswami
Rating: Half a star

Jag Mundhra’s Chase is a thriller.

Sohail Ansari (Anuuj Saxena) is on the run. DIG Ranveer Tyagi (Rajesh Khattar) and his deputy, Inspector Siddharth (Samir Kochhar), are hot on his trail. While on the run, Sohail gets injured and goes into a vegetative state. He has lost most of his senses and is unable to see, smell or feel. Nupur Chauhan (Udita Goswami) is deputed as the nurse to look after Sohail when he is admitted to a hospital by the DIG. Surbhee (Tarina Patel) is Sohail’s colleague and girlfriend. She tries to convince the DIG that Sohail is not the dreaded terrorist he is assumed to be. The DIG, of course, is not prepared to listen. Then one day, Nupur becomes instrumental in Sohail’s escape from the hospital and the police.

The true identities and motives of Sohail and Nupur are revealed one after another. There are also industrialist Khanna (Aditya Raj Kapoor) and a mystery man, Anthony D’costa (Gulshan Grover in a special appearance).

The story is juvenile and the screenplay, so full of holes that it would appear as if no thought went into the writing process. For instance, Nupur keeps getting the feeling that her patient, Sohail Ansari, is in his senses and is only pretending to be in a vegetative state. And yet, she does precious little to clear her doubts. It doesn’t need to be emphasised that there are a thousand ways to make a man, pretending to be in a comatose-like situation, to react to something like, say, a tickle, a pinch, a needle-prick or whatever. It’s a mystery why inspector Siddharth’s revolver keeps missing its target, Sohail Ansari, every single time. The games Sohail plays with the DIG are childish, to say the least. Planting a chip in someone’s wrist watch so that the one planting it is privy to all conversation of that person with others is also a very done-to-death idea to nail down the person.

On the plus side, the chase sequences, especially in the beginning, are interesting and exciting.

Anuuj Saxena makes a weak debut as hero. Udita Goswami is alright in the limited scope she gets. Tarina Patel passes muster. Rajesh Khattar and Samir Kochhar are okay but the script doesn’t give them enough power, despite their positions, to either assert authority or the terror they are capable of creating. Aditya Raj Kapoor acts in a monotonous style, his expressions being fixed, whatever the scene. Gulshan Grover has a tiny role and makes his presence felt. Sanjay Mishra is hopelessly wasted. 

Jag Mundhra’s direction treads the beaten path, offering no novelty to the audience. The title song is racy and sets the mood of the film but, unfortunately, there’s not much thereafter to keep up the promise made by the track. Amar Mohile’s background score may lack freshness but it at least enhances the impact of the chase sequences. 

Chase is not the kind of film the public will chase. Given its poor start and lack of merits, it will go largely unnoticed at the box-office.