Film: EMI

Banner: Popcorn Motion Pictures, Balaji Motion Pictures

Producer: Suniel Shetty, Shobhaa Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor

Director: Saurabh Kadra

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Rampal, Urmila Matondkar, Manoj Joshi, Daya Shanker Pandey, Pushkar Jog, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Malaika Arora, Ashish Chowdhry, Neha Uberoi, Snehal Dhabi, Javed Rizvi

Rating: 2/5

A movie relatable in parts… that’s EMI (Easy Monthly Instalments) for you.

EMI is a satire that looks at modern day India showcasing people with aspirations and dreams but limited means to fulfil them. However, needs must be fulfilled and hence they resort to taking loans. Four stories are depicted comprising people who have a thing in common… loan repayments. Another common link is the friendly neighbourhood goon Sattar Bhai (Sanjay Dutt), who works in close association with The All India Bank to recover loans from defaulters.

Story No 1: Ryan (Arjun Rampal) works at a disco as a DJ and aspires to be a musician some day. He falls in love with Nancy (Malaika Arora Khan) – a woman who has a list of pit less demands. Credit card payments are made without thinking about how to repay them.

Story No 2: Anil (Ashish Chowdhry) and Shilpa (Neha Uberoi) – the young urbane couple is looking to tie the knot soon. The loans on their heads are that for a house, car, travel, laptop and what not. Unfortunately for them, the ‘happy couple’ dream is soon shattered and payments falter.

Story No 3: Chandrakant (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), a middle class man, stays with his son Arjun (Pushkar Jog), who wants to study in London just coz everyone’s doing it! With no clear goal in his life, he takes his father’s loan repayment woes rather lightly.

Story No 4: Prerna (Urmila Matondkar) is a widow whose husband (Aman Verma) committed suicide due to money problems. Left alone with her young daughter, she’s on a mission to get her hands on her husband’s insurance policy money, which is hard to come by because of the suicide. She now has to prove that her husband was murdered.

Once the bank starts calling for the repayment, their lives get even more stressful and when the bank meets a dead end, it resorts to calling Good Luck Recovery Agency headed by Sattar Bhai to do the needful.

The first hour goes in establishing the stories and tends to move at a lethargic pace so much so that you’re craving for some action to begin. Dutt comes in only towards the second half and that’s when you sit upright in your seat again.

While the humour and dialogues are good in parts, it’s the character artists that steal the show and not the protagonists (barring Dutt of course). Manoj Joshi, Snehal Dabhi and Dayashankar Pandey take the cake. Watch out for the scene where Dabhi is celebrating his birthday and Joshi is inebriated to the pits!

There’s nothing to talk home about on the script as it lacks the punch. Dutt’s character turns the do-godder only because he wants to join politics. On the other hand, his mentor who graduates from goon to politician to social worker waxes eloquent to him about how he should actually care for the people if he wants to make it big in politics. And what are his qualifications, if one may ask, to preach thus?

Moreover, while the movie is about EMI, the concept hasn’t been explored to the hilt and therein lays the fault. While the idea of a local goon (Dutt) falling for one of the defaulters is believable, what is highly suspect is her (Matondkar) reciprocating those feelings! It’s a bit over the top!

The songs are forgettable and add nothing. Notwithstanding that, the romantic number between Dutt and Matondkar is watchable as it’s short and sweet.

Dutt is in his element and fits like a glove into his character. He is endearing and manages to elicit the right response from the audience at the right time. Matondkar looks pretty in her plain Jane avatar. Rampal comes across as a natural since his character requirements aren’t very demanding. One only hopes that he doesn’t get typecast into his musician character. Malaika Arora Khan was probably roped in for her item numbers and given a few scenes as a bonus. She looks good nonetheless. Kulbhushan Kharbanda does well, while Aashish Chowdhary and Neha Uberoi do nothing extraordinary.

If you’re a Sanjay Dutt fan… this one’s for you… otherwise skip it.