The After Hrs review: 'Tezz'

Film: Tezz
Director: Priyadarshan
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Sameera Reddy, Kangana Ranaut, Zayed Khan, Boman Irani
Rating: **

A bomb has been planted in a train going from London to Glasgow, which will blow off if the speed is reduced to less than 60, killing more than 500 passengers on the train (Speed on the railway track?). To tackle the situation, the best men are required, so enter the just-retired cop Arjun Khanna, who’s called back on this last mission minutes before he’s about to board a flight to India with his family. ‘Give me the money or…’ threatens Aakash Rana (Ajay), before swearing ‘teri maa ki’, when a ball accidentally hits him. Bingo, the cops know that the caller is an Indian and the chase begins. We are told early on that four years back, Aakash was deported to India leaving behind his pregnant wife Nikita (Kangana), as he was working in UK without a work permit. No one knows why Nikita couldn’t have gone to India, if Aakash couldn’t come to London. Anyway, don’t ask how, but Aakash somehow manages to return to London as a man on a mission, teams up with other illegal immigrants — Aadil (Zayed) and Megha (Sameera) — who he had helped in their times of crisis, and plots the train bombing. Talk of rebel without a cause! But as Arjun gets hot on their case, there are enough twists and chases in the tale to lend the film some interesting moments.

Unfortunately however, the chases are the only high points of the film that falters in between all the action sequences. The chase especially between Arjun and Aadil and that of Megha on the bike are worth a mention. Though one wonders why Megha would hit the roads, when being chased by cops, instead of opting for the cover of forests and making use of her dirt bike to have an advantage over the cops in cars?

Both Anil and Ajay deliver good performances, as they try their best to navigate around the loopholes that abound in the storyline. But unsupported by the strong plot they simply fail to move the audience. Their performances leave you nothing to complain, but the story keeps putting them in situations which make you doubt the intelligence of their characters. The love story is uninspiring and you don’t feel for either Nikita or Aakash as the parted in love couple. The surprise package here is Sameera, who steals the show as the biker babe. Given that most of the stunts are of course done by stuntguys, she makes her part seem convincing enough despite her ugly wigs, as does Zayed in his nearly six scene role. Even an actor like Mohanlal is wasted completely here, as he looks ill at ease as the overweight cop travelling in the ill-fated train. Kangana is strictly okay, Boman is over the top and Mallika Sherawat’s Laila fails to excite any ‘Majnoo’. One expected better from Priyan, and the action thriller just doesn’t thrill enough.

The film is a mishmash of several Holly flicks and the train sequence is quite reminiscent of Vinod Khanna-Dharmendra starrer, The Burning Train, which actually seems like a better bet in comparison. The film is worth a watch only for the few chase sequences, but that apart, there’s nothing that clicks. The film fails to rise above the average at any point and throughout Tezz seems rather slow as far as logic uptake is concerned, and there are times when you can’t seem to justify the actions of the characters. Situations seem thrown in for the convenience just to ensure a smoother flow of the otherwise average story. The climax gives you the feeling of ‘much ado about nothing!’ Overall, the film is strictly worth a watch for some action moments and a few good chases only.