Aa Dekhen Zara (2009) User Reviews

Aa Dekhen Zara...!!!!

[raghavramaiah-1 · 5/10 · 27 March 2009]

Aa Dekhen Zara, a Sci-fi action thriller first of its kind in Bollywood released this week with no other competitors at the box office. Directed by débutant director Jehangir Surti, Aa Dekhen Zara is a good watch with every ingredient rightly added. The script is good not great. Being Neil Nitin Mukesh's second movie, ADZ is not a Johnny Gaddar and doesn't even come close. First half is absolutely engaging and keeps you on your toes right till the intermission. As a few previous flicks,the script of ADZ too is let loose as the passing second half.

Aa Dekhen Zara's, protagonist Ray(Neil Nitin Mukesh) a photographer finds himself a camera left off by his dead grandfather which quite amusingly clicks photos, when developed shows the future of the people in the photos. During one such camera encounter is when he accidentally runs into Simi(Bipasha Basu) a DJ at a club. Ray adds color to his struggling life by the aid of the camera to win bucks through Lottery, Horse Racing and various other sources. He then starts living a polished life with Simi when fate strikes. He finds himself chased by both cops and Captain(Rahul Dev) to get hold of the camera. To add to Ray's agony is when, he finds out that he's going to be dead in a week's time and all he has is 7 days to find a safe place both for the camera and Simi. The events that lead upto the climax is for you to see it yourself.

Aa Dekhen Zara is fresh and feels good. Second half of the movie is more of the typical Bollywood chases and makes you feel restless as it seems never ending. All the actors are pretty decent and nothing appreciable. Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha Basu both look good together and their screen presence is felt right away. Rahul Dev with his age old trademark negative role is spot on.

Music of ADZ is composed by Pritam and its average. Though nothing remarkable is seen in the Music Department, the album of ADZ is not a bad one. Though being an above average watch, the trick that is going to work for ADZ, is the marketing factor which was done quite superbly and that is going to pull people to the theaters.

I will go with 7 out of 10 for Jehangir Surti's Aa Dekhen Zara. A good watch for this weekend.

Raghav Movie Critic, Writer's Lounge

More reviews on: www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com

Far fetched but not a disaster.

[Pratik112 · 5/10 · 13 April 2009]

The title of this is taken from an old song from an old move, "Rocky," which was the movie that introduced Sanjay Dutt to the Film Industry and which was sung by the late Kishore Kumar and Asha Bhonsle and also starred Tina Munim and Reena Roy. The song also is heard here, in this but is sung by someone else. This is a far fetched and especially if one has a piece of equipment that is able to tell the future.

Starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bipasha Basu, Rahul Dev, Bobby Vasta, Sophia Choudhary and Rajan Korgaonkar, this is directed by Jehangir Surti and is written by Sheershak Anand and Shantanu Ray Chhibbar.

Neil Nitin Mukesh, the grandson of the late and the famous Mukesh and son of Nitin Mukesh, has definitely made an impact and he certainly did it in his debut movie, "Johnny Gaddar" and he has done well in this. His opposite, Bipasha Basu has also done well and looks very stunning. But it was Rahul Dev who really does make the difference with his performance as he makes his character quite believable; but unfortunately this has not saved the fate of this movie, even though the cast has done a good job and is directed well by Jehangir Surti.

Because this is rather far fetched by the thought of having something that is able to tell your fate, this becomes predictable all the way through and though it has all the ingredients of being a good thriller, it is not able to do that and this is where the plot fails and it is really a shame but it is not a disaster.

A Nutshell Review: Aa Dekhen Zara

[DICK STEEL · 5/10 · 28 March 2009]

Jumping from great heights and into a swimming pool is firmly a cliché in my books. Hollywood overuses it, and I see that influence has crossed borders as well. Need an escape when your character is cornered? Well, leaping off a building automatically means a body of water deep enough to cushion impact down below. There's nothing more lazy than that nowadays, so thumbs down to any story that offers this quick fix, like a "Goto" statement in a program, rather than opting for a more elegant programming structure.

It's a little bit surprising that Aa Dekhen Zara clocks in less than 120 minutes, with intermission. Not that all Bollywood movies are supposed to be at least 150 minutes long of course, but you can feel that director Jehangir Surti has not grasped the need to tell more in less time, and as such the characters suffer in being nothing more than cardboard caricatures. Sub plots tangent off one another that they felt half-baked, and were introduced for the sake of, rather than for a purpose and a need. Not that it was narratively bad, but the story suffered from the lack of time.

And time plays a key role in this science fictioner. Neil Nitin Mukesh plays Ray Acharya, a freelance photographer with mounting debt and no assignments. His grandfather is a great scientist, and when he passed away, Ray inherits an old camera which turns out to be more than meets the eye. Of course I'm not going to reveal what it does here, which the movie does in a montage one step being behind the audience who would already have figured out by then, but suffice to say that with great power comes great responsibility, and big trouble as well, as a given.

For what it's worth, it delves into the greed of man. With power comes the ability to satisfy the lust after money. You can bet your last dollar that everyone when thrusted with a new power, will try to see if it can be monetized. And if it can, then you're likely to milk it for its worth. And when it comes to money, it's typically all men for themselves, with everyone wanting a piece of the pie, stopping at nothing to try and get at it. If it's a golden goose that lays golden eggs, then there will be neighbours eyeing that fowl of yours. Villains though are extremely one dimension. Having the story shifted to Thailand in the later half of the film, there seemed to be no qualms in highlighting the corruption of the police as either informers, or greedy bastards, that seem to plague both countries.

Bipasha Basu delivers more spunk than the male lead Neil Nitin Mukesh here, and it's no surprise since the veteran has more mileage in action flicks under her belt. Her role as a DJ turned aspiring singer here I felt was little more than to allow the usual song-and-dance routine to come up. While that set in a club was natural, there was one awfully artificial routine in Thailand where Ray and Bipasha's Simi escape into an outlaw bar, and are forced to sing and dance for the Thai men just because they're expected to. Neil and Bipasha also looked very awkward with each other, sharing really no chemistry as lovebirds, but rather clicked when they're supposed to be estranged.

It has a potentially interesting premise and plot device set up, but alas the story's yet another bland action flick with little suspense as you're likely to stay one step ahead each time. If only it had a better story, but perhaps that was left to a sequel (which Aa Dekhen Zara lead into) which will probably not be made since this film would have tanked that prospect.

Jyada mat dekhna (Dont see too much)

[manoj-ransing · 5/10 · 10 August 2009]

This is an average Bollywood movie and from the beginning to the end go as audience will expect. The movie has good suspense which makes us watch it till the end, but fails to make an impression which will last longer. The movie is good to watch on TV for free for more than once. But if you pay for this it may not be a good experience. The good thing about the movie is the main storyline, which is new to the bollywood and has the potential to make the drama interesting till end. Ray (Neil Mukesh) got his hands on a camera, which can forecast future. He uses the camera to earn money. Troubles started when he becomes greedy. Eventually bad guys find out about the camera and wants to gain it at any cost. It is the duty of Ray now to keep the camera away from bad guys, and also saving his and his girlfriend Simi's (Bipasha Basu) life. Though the narration and the speed is good somehow the movie doesn't make a strong impact. At the end the moral of the story is don't be greedy. Screenplay, scripts, direction and actings should have been better. Some characters (lady agent played by Sophiya) are totally wasted and some scenes (Malaysian thieves capturing the couple) are totally useless. Also the car chase and the over all action fails to impress. These and some other facts helps killing the spirit of the movie. At the end everything is goodi goodi and everyone is happy. Not many songs in the movie, but still the music makes a good impact. Also some small concepts like blank photo were used nicely. Not much romance drama and not having any unnecessary parallel story line are some more good points. Over and all not a bad movie to watch if to be watched for free. One may even buy the video song CD containing the "Gazab dhayo" song.

One of the best thrillers of all time..... HA HA HA HA HA!

[sashank_kini-1 · 2/10 · 1 April 2009]

The two leads are escaping from the police. They enter a club where they are welcomed by a group of thugs who think that they too are criminals. Then, one ugly looking man asks the lady "Do you know how to dance?" The main actress, Bipasha Basu suddenly begins to dance, wearing a very hot dress along with the main actor, Neil Nitin Mukesh.

Yeah, THIS is what happens in this so-called thriller. The acting is laughably bad. Neil Nitin Mukesh sucks as a photographer who gets lucky when he finds out a camera made by his grandpa that shows the future. He starts winning lottery and horse races after betting on them until the bad guy finds out that he has the camera. Neil is very stiff and shows teaspoons on emotion. He especially looks weird when he shouts at Bipasha Basu or tries to console her.

Bipasha Basu is as always the same. Her beauty and better-than-bad acting cannot salvage this crap. Then comes Sophie Chaudhary, who has improved from her previous film "Shaddi No 1" but still stinks. I was laughing when he was saying those serious lines with that straight face.

The premise isn't bad but the story goes misleading as at first, only a day's future is shown while after the intermission, the future for the next days are also shown. There isn't any kind of visible shock when Neil learns that the camera shows the future. Also, the scenes that showed him striking luck in betting was so long and boring with the annoying background score of "Paisa Paisa!" Shut up!

One or two of the songs were good but the others sucked. The slower version of AA dekhein Zaraa is very boring. The story twists and turns till one feels to throw shoes at the director. The ending his horrible and nothing original.

It is clearly one of the worst films of the year. 2 out of 10.

A Disappointing Thriller!

[cool-bhargava · 4/10 · 30 April 2009]

Neil Nitin Mukesh is so much better when he talks less. His narration in particular sucks. This is just below above average. A bad performance by almost all, except Bipasha who did relatively better than others around her. Some things in the film are way too cheesy for me to stand! This just does not have any depth at all. Just when I thought that Bollywood was ready to make good thriller, here goes another disappointment.The concept of the film can be appreciated only to the extend that it exists but nothing has been done to utilize it. What I thought was a promotional song, actually turned out to be in the film. Some things just don't make sense in the film, absolutely blunt. These people have no idea what thrillers!

Fun Friday Fare!

[AishFan · 7/10 · 11 April 2009]

Two of today's most stylish actors, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha, team up for this sci-fi thriller revolving around a unique camera that can take snaps of the future. Both stars sizzle the screen and make a fresh combination. It is interesting to see how the photographs turn into reality, and more so the limitless possibilities and power it brings to the camera's owner. It has the potential to prevent crimes, save lives, and benefit the country. Fallen into the wrong hands, one can gain a dangerously unstoppable amount of power and create havoc. The real journey begins when a photo is clicked revealing a dark fate for NNM. What is exactly is this fate? Can the camera be wrong? Can NNM fight against his own destiny? The film is an entertaining one--of course nothing to be taken too seriously as it is a masala fare. Nice cinematography and use of colors make it an exciting watch on the big screen. The song at the bar is really ridiculous and should have been cut. The end credits music video is terrific.

Exciting plot but an unexciting and lifeless execution.

[bobbysing · 3/10 · 5 July 2009]

It is easy to select an exciting and interesting plot about future gazing but it's quite difficult to convert it into an equally entertaining movie. What may be amusing and great on paper may not be that convincing when it comes out as a complete film. That is the exact problem with "Aa Dekhen Zara" featuring Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha together for the first time.

The movie starts off impressively but then goes on a down slide with each new development on the screen. The story revolves around Neil and his Camera, which has the power of looking into the future. The camera can click photographs of the events which would be happening on the following day. The moment Neil comes to know about this gift, he goes on to fulfill all his wishes in life along with his lady love Bipasha.

Now reading the synopsis, you may feel excited to watch it, but the movie lacks the pull and passion required by the plot. A film based on future prediction should normally be a fast paced, exciting ride for the viewer. But the current flick fails to deliver the goods as promised. The main culprit behind this is the script, which is not able to hold the viewer at all. The sequences written are uninteresting and also conceived in a very simple way. There are too many loopholes in the story which are easy to spot even while watching the movie itself.

Director Jehangir Surti, has sure got the talent, but maybe he chose the wrong script. Same can be said about Neil Nitin Mukesh, who chooses his movies with utmost care. But this time, it seems he got over confident about the innovative plot and didn't care about its execution on the screen. Though performance wise he does a fine job but in my opinion, going by his looks, he should avoid dancing and love themes in his movies. Neil has got a perfect persona for thrillers and intense flicks, so he should look out for those kind of scripts more, leaving the usual bollywood stuff for others (like the act he did in his debut movie "Johny Gaddar").

Bipasha looks glamorous and she delivers what was required from her according to the script. Sophie Chaudhary on the other hand too looks sexy but it was indeed strange on part of the director to cast her as an Intelligence Agent. Others in the cast have strictly played their part as an official job assigned to them with nothing great to mention.

Musically, also the movie lacks a lot. Good thrillers either should not have any songs at all or should have highly entertaining songs which do not become an hindrance in the narration. Sadly here the songs are a big obstacle in the proceedings and are not able to entertain, not even the remix version of the hit R.D. Burman track from "Rocky". However among the few good things about the movie, is the camera-work in the chase sequences and fights, which is done superbly.

In short, the idea was good, which could have resulted in an exciting movie but the poor execution took away all the thrills from the otherwise interesting plot. Bollywood still has a lot to achieve in genre of Sci-fi fictions. The best movie till date on this topic still remains "Mr. India" but let's hope for better works in the coming years. If you are really interested in movies on journey into the future then do watch "Back To The Future" Series and enjoy the ride.

Enjoyable

[schiller19 · 7/10 · 19 April 2009]

I find this to be an interesting combination. Also it may have some lacks in the overall plot it is still an enjoyable movie for the Hindi fans and not only. It is a bit boring in the beginning but when the "action" part starts it goes on like that till the very end. The idea is very interesting (it is another "version" of many SF flicks... You will catch on very quickly what the general idea is if you haven't already read it in some other comments). The actors do a convincing job. I've liked the most the one who played "The Captain". He reminds me of Clive Owen at times (his looks and his style of play). I recommend this to anyone who has nothing better to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon. :)

Bad Thriller

[ganeshkss97 · 1/10 · 12 April 2011]

Aa Dekhen Zara,could be named as one of Bollywood's worst thrillers.

The screenplay is shoddy.The song "Mohabbat Aap Se"looks forced.Sophie's track was wasted.

There are only one or two scenes which seem captivating.

Bipasha Basu is the only plus point of this bland movie.She looks sizzling.

Direction by Jahangir Surti is bad.

The music is okay.

Performance wise-The writers give minimum scope to both the leads.Rahul Dev is bad,Sophie is wasted.

Overall Aa Dekhen Zara is bad.

Aa Dekhen Zara

[tambe · 8/10 · 2 April 2009]

Aa dekhen zara was totally a unique movie. The movies name and the songs were related to the movie scenes and story. Bipasha Basu was really good at her role. While Neil Nitin Mukesh was also good. But it would be better if his expressions were shown a bit more. The future camera was really interesting. It would be wonderful to have a camera which sees the future. At the first half of the movie it was unbelievable that Ray (Niel Nitin Mukesh) from a poor man he became a rich man. But the bad part is that he used the camera for a greedy purpose. At least because of the evil people he learnt to put the camera for good use. But the movie had many parts where there were no connections and there was no clearty. Still I would rate it 8, because of the mystery. The movie was to the point too.

New theme for Indian cinema, but flawed.

[andrewtrocks · 7/10 · 2 May 2009]

The story is about a photographer who is left behind a camera from his grandfather. The camera takes pictures of the future, and he takes the advantage of it and makes money out of it. This movie is a change for Indian cinema. There is a little fun in this, but some parts are flawed. The performance of Bipasha was not good. Neil Nitin Mukesh was good but not Oscar-worthy.

The beginning is very shacky. You have no idea whats going on but the story gets back on track. The direction is pretty bad and the characters are not well developed.

Worth a one time watch. 6/10.

Easily could have been much better

[sumanbarthakursmailbox · 5/10 · 16 April 2009]

First-time director Jehangir Surti fails to inject that edge-of-the-seat excitement into this thriller, making it a long, tedious affair.An interesting thought may not necessarily translate into an interesting screenplay. Aa dekhen zara is a prime example of this statement.Loosely scripted and full of inconsistencies, Aa Dekhen Zara may have an interesting premise as its starting point, but the film's writers fail to flesh out a foolproof screenplay, and don't even stay true to the film's own absurd logic. At the start we're told the camera only takes pictures 24 hours into the future, then suddenly it's taking photographs of events five days away! A photo warns Neil he will be stalked by his enemy on a flight, and yet a day later when that actually happens, Neil seems entirely unprepared. By the way these are just two instances that come immediately to mind.Just when you thought the film couldn't get any worse, Sophie Chaudhary shows up with too much pancake, a plunging neckline and dialogues that could have only been written by a fourth-grader. Turns out she isn't who she's meant to be, and when you learn who she really is, you realize the writers have pretty much exhausted all their ideas.For a thriller, Aa Dekhen Zara is awfully snail-paced, and every moment in that dark-room waiting for photographs to develop feels like real time. Neil Nitin Mukesh is stiff for the most part and fails to leave much of an impression. Bipasha Basu, saddled with a thankless role, can't do much to help either.On the whole, Aa Dekhen zara had the potential to be an exciting fare, but the post-interval portions prove a deterrent.

No Thanks !

[prashkum-1 · 5/10 · 19 April 2009]

Even though the title says - 'Aa Dekhe Zara' - Its better to not take the bait. A pseudo sci-fi movie gone wrong. The build is good in the first half with lot of promise. But screenplay is all at sea in the second half. Plot gets all mixed up and confused. An average story is treated with below average screenplay and direction. Its a thriller drama gone bad in Bangkok.

Music, songs and fight sequence are hardly worth noticing.

Feeling sorry for Neil. After Johny Gaddar, coming after more than an year, this movie doesn't do justice to his talent at all. Bipasha is under utilized. Rahul Dev does justice to his role and for a change is not over the top.

Nothing great

[silvan-desouza · 3/10 · 24 May 2009]

The camera trick is a new thing in bollywood, even TASVEER had a similar plot

The handling however isn't up to the mark

The sudden break of song by Bipasha looks forced

The film fails to leave you interested till the end and that is the biggest drawback The film fails to entertain and looks stupid at times

Direction is nothing great Music is okay

Neil Nitin Mukesh just reprises his role from JOHNY GADDAR and doesn't add something new, he still needs to work on his diction and expressions Bipasha is as usual

Could've been better, but not bad at all

[iamshadab · 6/10 · 28 April 2009]

Beginning with the story, the overall plot was good, but it shows laking of budget resulting in less use of technology. For a debut director I will say has to work more harder to improve, else the acting were OK, but Rahul Dev's character acting leaves a mark to the mind after watching it, you could've think of him at the end. New concept for a Hindi film makes it markable, the ratings cut due to average direction, average acting, and less binding power in the movie, But I'll still say watch it for a different experience generally absent in Hindi movies, a different flavor,

All in all I'll say far more to go, but a good attempt.

my rating, 3/5

Interesting main twist

[shaileshmkawale · 6/10 · 14 May 2021]

Plot: A man gets a camera that can take future(24 hrs at the same time of the next day) picture of a particular place . He uses the opportunity to make money. He goes and take picture of lottery results and buys the same lottery. The. He goes to race course, takes the picture of result as to which horse will win the next day. He bets on the same hours and wins the money.

Twist : He clicks his own picture and the photo comes as blank. A blank photo means the person will die before that time so the camera couldn't see the future picture. Now our hero has 24 hrs to find out who will kill him and try to change the destiny. Hence the name "Aa dekhe zara". The suspense is revealed at the end and has a good dialogue

The basic plot is interesting, the movie is fast paced. It has some illogical sequence but one should expect in sci-fi movies.

Performances are average but the main plot is interesting. The movie can be watched at least once.

It is not a great movie but not bad for sure. It is far better than 3x10 tasveer and Kurbaan.