Director: AMR Ramesh
Cast: Arjun Sarja, Manisha Koirala, Shaam, Aqsa Bhatt, AMR Ramesh.
Firstly, it has got nothing to do with the mysterious death of a high profile woman, the wife of a former union minister, and definitely has no connection whatsoever with that of the hit-and-run case against Salman Khan. The ‘smart’ director did at least one thing right by neither admitting nor denying speculations around his film ‘Game’, that it was based on Sunanda Pushkar’s death webbed around with the strange connection of hit and run case involving Salman Khan.
Well, while digging the past, for about three year, the real game behind this ‘Game’ starts unravelling itself - a straight lift from the 2012 Spain’s critically appreciated ‘The Body (El Cuerpo)’. This is a big let down especially considering that the director has films like ‘Cyanide’ and ‘Attahasa’ under his belt. There have been instances wherein a few Sandalwood filmmakers, just could not resist ‘copying’ experimental subjects made in Korean, Japanese and other neighbouring industries and claim it as their own. This one takes the direction towards Western Europe, just behind France, for so called ‘inspiration’!
With the original’s running time being about 107 minutes, this bilingual ‘Game’ is obviously a bit lengthier and stretched out to 125 minutes, for that typical commercial flavour including the songs scored by Ilayaraja. Again, for those who are unaware of ‘The Body’ – Game does revolve around a missing body from a local morgue. The credit solely goes to Oriol Paulo (The Body’s director), for creating a simple yet great thriller, which maintains high tension, right till the end. Ramesh does a neat job by not disturbing any scene, right from the start when a lone night guard at a morgue starts running for dear life as a speeding vehicle eventually runs him down. After the accident, he goes into temporary coma.
It is from here that the game begins when the IPS officer portrayed by Arjun Sarja is called to investigate the case. The mystery gets murkier with a dead body missing – Maya, who died from a heart attack earlier that day while the autopsy is still pending. With suspicion mounting high, all fingers point towards the victim’s husband, who is apparently out enjoying a good time visiting his lover, despite his wife’s body still in the morgue. Soon, the husband becomes the prime suspect, who starts believing that his wife is playing some sort of game while she is very much alive.
Is Maya still alive? Who are the actual players behind the mysterious game? It does ends on a high note with a good message on drunk driving. So if you can’t get yourself a copy of the Spanish film ‘The Body’, then do watch this one, as the lead actors spearhead by Arjun Sarja play their part well in AMR’s Game!
