99: Justifies its tag line
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 The film begins in 1999 Mumbai. Sachin (Kunal Khemu) and Zaramud (Cyrus
Broacha) are two small time crooks who make moolah duplicating mobile
SIM cards. It was a time when mobiles craze was just catching on and
not many people carried mobiles. When cops raid Sachin and Zaramud's
place they steal a posh Mercedes and try to run but end up ramming it
into a lamp post.
Their problems multiply as the expensive car belongs
to a ruthless underworld don cum bookie AGM (Mahesh Manjrekar). To
recover his huge loss from them AGM gets the duo working under him. AGM
then sends the two to Delhi to recover Rs. 20 lakhs from Rahul
Vidyarthi (Boman) who had laid a bet on a India v/s New Zealand match
under his syndicate. Now this Rahul is a chronic gambler and is forever
in debt evading all those demanding back their money. He tries the same
with Rahul and Zaramud. But the two succeed in getting back the money
but then to their bad luck it gets stolen on their way to the airport.
Now their only chance to recover all that money is that one match
between India v/s South Africa that Rahul plans to bet on which he
knows is fixed. But he is not sure on whose favour. How the trio with
the help of Pooja (Soha), hotel employee and Kunal new found love try
to find a way out of this forms the rest of this comic thriller.
The film carries the tag line - Part Fact, Part Fiction, Pure Fun.
Rarely Bollywood film tag lines live up to the expectations raised but
99 is bang on. The makers have intricately woven situations (betting
scandal, mobile phone nuisance) that actually took place in 1999-2000
with a fictional story and made it extremely entertaining. This film
might just end the drought multiplex audiences were subjected to. What
lifts the film to a great extent are the dialogues. The one-liners are
terrific and all the actors are bang on with their comic timing.
Director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK have done a fantastic job over
all but just that they could have kept the pacing even. All the scenes
between Boman and his wife played by Simone Singh tend to drag and
bring the pace down. But thats just a minor flaw. The film's treatment
is fresh and it keeps you hooked throughout.
Kunal Khemu's fan following should multiply with
this film. He is just too good. Cyrus Broacha in his first full fledged
role in a Hindi film is howlarious. He is even funny in scenes where he
doesn't even have a line to speak. Boman is back in form after a long
time. Soha's shows she can be very good with comedy too. Simone Singh
playing Boman's wife is fair. But the two guys who stand out tall are
Mahesh Manjrekar and Amit Mistry. Manjrekar's poker faced humour leaves
you laughing out loud. All his scenes with Kunal-Cyrus and the ones
where he tortures his clients are extremely funny. Amit Mistry had last
impressed in Ek Chalis Ki Last Local playing Abhay Deol's gambler
friend. Here he plays Manjrekar's Delhi associate and he impresses yet
again. In a cameo role, Vinod Khanna exudes style and fits the part
perfectly as the big bookie and Boman's nemesis.
99 is a cool movie to be enjoyed in this hot 2009 summer. Don't miss
it. Finally there is a clean, innovative comedy thats worth your money.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5*
Starring: Kunal Khemu, Cyrus Broacha, Boman Irani, Soha Ali Khan, Mahesh Manjrekar and Vinod Khanna.
Directors: Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK
Sampurn Media
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