Movie Review- Machine by Suhel Johar

Machine Is A Film That Lacks A Soul And Is A Very Mechanised Fare

Machine, the launch vehicle for Mustafa Burmawala, son of Abbas of the film’s director duo Abbas Mustan, was perceived as the biggest of the three Hindi releases of this week. It was believed that Abbas-Mustan would put to work their ingenuity as far Bollywood thrillers go but they’ve completely failed in doing that in this film. Unarguably, it is the worst film coming out from the Abbas-Mustan stable.

Few seconds into the film and we get treated to the lush greenery of North India where we see Sarah Thapar (Kiara Advani) indulging in some charity work at an orphanage. The next moment, the high-heeled lady is zooming past the roads off the valleys in her car only to get it skid over an oil spill. But for the saviour that she is, she prevents another car from meeting a similar fate. Turns out the man is an attractive man named Ransh (Mustafa Burmawala) who now only has eyes for Ms Thapar who has already occupied the driving seat of his car while taking a lift from him to reach her hostel.

Sarah Thapar like Ransh is a competitive car racer and their next meeting happens at a car racing event where both of them are the participants. As expected, Ransh wins the race and throws in a Baazigar moment when the leading lady asks him the secret of his triumph. "Main break par paaon nahi rakhtaa....kyunki mujhe maut se darr nahi lagtaa".

Ransh and Sarah also happen to be studying in the same college and in no time, the duo start to have feelings for one another. After receiving surprise gifts from an anonymous lover, Sarah plans to meet her secret admirer at a bridge. In an unfortunate accident near the bridge, her admirer Aditya (Eshan Shankar) is killed by a speeding car. Sarah moves on over the sorrow of losing her friend and soon gets hitched with Ransh, after her dad (Ronit Roy) agrees of him.

The newly married couple go on a honeymoon trip where they break into a romantic song. And then comes a big shocker the next morning, when post their love confession towards each other, Ransh tosses Sarah off the cliff of a mountain in the most ridiculous way. The rest of the film unravels the mystery behind the reason for Ransh's shocking act of crime.  

Machine is like a reprised version of Abbas Mustan’s SRK starrer Baazigar. What’s ironic is, that they have ruined it completely and made it unpalatable. Abbas-Mustan have made a very disconcerted effort in the making of the film. Their forte has been in the genre of thrillers but in this film they fail to provide any thrills mainly because the script of the film is convoluted and sitting through the film is sheer torture. The illogical characters and even more illogical situations along with tacky dialogues continue to add to your woes throughout the film. In short, everything is pretty much messed up with this film, from casting to music to screenplay.

Musically, too the film has nothing to boast about. The reworked versions of 'Ek Chatur Naar' and 'Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast' are as bad as the original tracks in the film. Machine is one of those films that will work as an example for students of cinemas about what not to do when making a thriller. The only things that work in the film are its picturesque locations and the cars.

Performance wise, Mustafa's whose launch pad is this film is really bad. You simply fail to connect with his character as his acting histrionics never show up. He has no clue on what he is doing and what is going around him. Kaira Advani who was impressive in the MS Dhoni biopic has nothing much to do except look pretty. The lesser said about Eshan Shanker and Carla Dennis the better. Ronit Roy and Johny Lever are the only two competent performers in the film. Ronit Roy and Johnny Lever even though you can see Johnny Lever struggling to add some humour element in the film.

On the whole, Machine is a film that is very disappointing coming from Abbas-Mustan and one that you need to stay away from.