Film The Xpose is Directed by Anant Mahadevan, who had earlier given us movies like ‘Dil Vil Pyar Vyar’ and ‘Dil Maange More!!!’, ‘The Xpose’ is a period musical-thriller set in the 60s and stars Himesh Reshammiya, Sonali Raut, Zoya Afroz, Honey Singh, Irrfan Khan and even Mahadevan himself in a cameo.
This is the Funniest film of the year. You’ll have a ball watching The Xposé (accidentally pronounced in the film as the verb expose and not the noun). It’s the most hilarious whodunit ever made. The thriller based in 1968, which features a night shot of the contemporary Mumbai skyline. It includes two directors making two epic masala movies called Reena Mera Naam and Chanchal Sheetal Nirmal. Reena… features a homage shot to Yeh Nazdeekiyan (1982) and Chanchal… has homage to Satyam Shivam Sundaram (1978). A film based in 1968 has shots from actual movies that happened a decade later. And then they say this film is inspired by true events. Marty McFly would’ve been proud.
If the Imitation is the greatest form of flattery – and there could have been no bigger tribute to Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 movie ‘The Great Gatsby’ than this – as far as the look and feel of the movie is concerned. From the posters to the poses, everything in this movie screamed ‘The Great Gatsby’ except the performances.
The Xpose’ explores the complex characters, the inner workings and the dark truths of a seemingly glamorous world. The film is set in the golden era of bollywood of 1960’s begins with the murder of a famous actress Zara (Sonali Raut) in a Bollywood party , and follows the rivalry between actress Chandni (Zoya Afroz) and another starlet. Meanwhile Reshammiya’s character is inspired by Raj Kumar – and his performance never fails to fail. The film’s characters Zara and Chandni are reportedly based on Parveen Babi and Zeenat Aman
Reportedly inspired by real-life events of Bollywood during the 60’s, the movie had the potential to be a blockbuster hit. It was the poor screenplay and editing that killed the real quintessence of the film..
Himesh Reshammiya plays an actor Ravi Kumar, who hails from North India, but is a superstar down South. He is a cop turned self – congratulatory Southern superstar and is on the brink of making his grand entry into the Bollywood. He has a penchant for gung-ho dialogue baazi. He is a nasal turned angry young man and a poker faced person who beats up people at will.
And he prefers to add swashbuckling lines during film shoots. He has an interesting back story too. He used to be a police inspector before he turned an actor (which is exactly how Raaj Kumar’s real-life story turned out). There on, Himesh’s character deviates into greyer shades. He shoots a Minister in the lock up and is thrown out of the force. After which he joins the movies but still retains his edgy disposition. The Xposé has many subliminal references to Hindi film legends. Writers Bunty Rathore, Jainesh Ejarder and Himesh Reshammiya have done a decent job digging up old stories. But then they’ve weaved it in a story that makes trashy Joginder movies seem like classics. The movie has also given Punjabi rapper, Yo Yo Honey Singh, his acting debut. He plays Kenny Damania aka KD who is a philandering music composer. KD is married to director Shabnam for his own benefits and has an extra marital affair with Zara. What follows in the movie is Ravi’s investigation on the homicide where every single character comes under the scanner. The real culprit manages to escape for a while, but eventually is “xposed” by our self-proclaimed super hero.
Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan (who’s playing a key character in the film, who’s also a movie director) tries his level best to give this film noir treatment. So The Xposé has a definite visual style but no content. The absurdly demented climax belongs in a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not vault.
Yo Yo Honey Singh in certain portions of the film has been wasted, but has done well overall. He has the correct comic timing but purely loses out on the character’s nuances. The Xpose, perhaps was not the right choice for him to enter the world of Bollywood.
Sonali Raut and Zoya Afroz have negligible expressions and have done a good job in “xposing” in the movie
There’s no reason the music shouldn’t work. The tunes are catchy (some are a tad, too familiar), the lyrics seem fun, they’ve shot the songs in exotic locations and in the grandest of fashion. But they still don’t entertain, enough. one would have some high expectations with the music, but The Xpose delivers very ordinary tracks and average music
The screenplay randomly veers to songs in the most unprofessional manner. In comparison to his last few films, this can be touted as Himesh Reshammiya’s best work by far. Though he does look flippant in some scenes, especially with dialogues
And then you have great consistency in bad acting. Himesh’s performance is marginally better than his previous attempts, but it’s still too wooden to be true. Talk about stiffness in front of the camera. Newbies Zoya Afroz and Sonali Raut are no better than pretty faces. And Ananth Mahadevan, Honey Singh, Jessy Randhawa and Rajesh Sharma show you the pitfalls of overacting. The only notable performance in the film comes from Adil Hussain, who outshines everyone, in a total screen presence of three minutes.
The Xposé has exposed a sad truth from our film industry. The Xpose’ explores the complex characters, the inner workings and the dark truths of a glamorous world. The film celebrates the cinema of the decade with references to Teesri Manzil, Johnny Tera Naam and Satyam Shivam Sundaram. The film also shows that we have the ability to make really bad movies.