"Race".

I'm just not going to waste any time telling you what a crappy movie this was.

Rife with absolutely needless latkas and jhatkas from the likes of Indian babes, this story had nothing but spin and substance that you could have gotten from any cheap weekend action thriller starring nobodies and somebodies. The hype existed because Saif is in great vogue, Katrina Kaif is of course a great motivator for the other half of the audience and Bipasha Basu fans will probably roll over and die after watching this flick.

I find Akshaye Khanna to be one of the most under-rated actors of the Indian film industry right now, he has time and again proved with his range of roles that he can do more than just be the muscley muppet that the epitome of Indian heroism is supposed to be. He portrays well the character of the obsessive, jealous, conniving brother and Saif, had it not been for his rugged look, would have been paled in his performance.

As far as Saif himself is concerned, everything seems to be working for him these days. He can play a cook, a nincompoop and Iago and still be loved. So let his star shine, but if I had to give him one simple suggestion as a member of his wide audience, I'd ask him to drop the Brando act. Huskiness can only go along till Amitabh in his emotional speeches. Not for business tycoons, who by the way not only own cheap phones (a K750i) but also go out to blow up their enemies on their own (poor darlings don't have any henchmen at all to do their dirty work, the dears!). Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy's sloppy fruit-eating humor leaves much to be desired, and I wonder who's really to blame for these stupidities. The audience or the directors?

The story seems ripped off enough, and the direction still has a long way to go before it reaches the summit that directors think they've reached everytime they make movies with big budgets. Thrillers or action-packed flicks don't always have to involve a high-speed chase or women dancing in discoes (although that does seem quite the formula), it can also be as creepy as "The Others" and as riveting as "Sixteen Blocks".

A relatively better film for the Bollywood bunch, but third-rate and just another ordinary pot-holed flick with eye-candy to smooth rough ends.

At the end of 2 hours, you'll be left with sheer gladness, that the 'race' is indeed over.