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By Taran Adarsh, January 11, 2008 - 12:33 IST
In the 1970s, the foot-tapping number from AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY, 'My name is Anthony Gonsalves', proved a chartbuster and despite innumerable songs invading the Hindi screen in the intervening period, the song still lingers. MY NAME IS ANTHONY GONSALVES uses the wordings of the popular track, but will the movie be remembered as the song in question? Now that's a tough one!
Looking at the promos of E. Niwas' new outing MY NAME IS ANTHONY GONSALVES, it's difficult to comprehend the genre of the film. That's precisely why you wait for the reels to unfold, to understand what this boy next door called Anthony Gonsalves would be up to.
The sad part is MY NAME IS ANTHONY GONSALVES appeals in bits and spurts. An ordinary idea seems to be stretched beyond a point and that's one of the reasons why MY NAME IS ANTHONY GONSALVES lacks the fizz.
Another aspect that goes against the film is that the first hour lacks the power to keep you hooked. There's no movement in the story, frankly. Yet, it must be said that E. Niwas' execution of the subject, in the second hour mainly, camouflages the defects. A few portions are extremely well handled, especially those when the gangsters get to know that Anthony is going to spill the beans.
Overall, a disappointing fare!
An ordinary guy, Anthony Gonsalves [Nikhil Dwivedi], has an extra-ordinary dream. His dream is to become an actor. Anthony works as a bartender in Jimmy's Pub in Bandra, Mumbai.
Sikander [Pawan Malhotra], Maqsood [Mukesh Tiwari] and Riyaaz [Dayashanker Pandey] are gangsters and the pub is a legitimate front for their illegal activities. Sikander is Anthony's benevolent benefactor and protector.
One fine day, Anthony inadvertently becomes a witness to a crime committed by the gang. Enters Inspector Khan [Jawed Sheikh], an honest, conscientious officer, investigating the murder of a dead colleague. Khan gets to know about Anthony being a witness to the crime.
Khan starts pursuing Anthony and the gang with dogged determination. Anthony has to choose between Sikander on one hand and his dream to become an actor, on the other.
Clearly, the fault lies in the writing. As mentioned at the outset, there's hardly any movement in the story in the first hour. Once the characters are established, instead of taking the story forward, it just stagnates. In fact, things start moving only at the intermission period. The second half holds a lot of promise and the wheels start moving at this stage, but the climax, again, is outright predictable, straight out of the 1970s.
Director E. Niwas is bogged down by a patchy script, which vacillates from interesting to boring. The writing [Mayur Puri, Lajan Joseph] is the culprit here. Dialogues are well penned at times. Cinematography is strictly okay.
Nikhil Dwivedi suits the character and handles his part confidently. He has the trappings of a fine actor, his expressions are perfect at most times. But he needs to better his dialogue delivery and work on his voice. Amrita Rao looks gorgeous, but her role isn't substantial enough. Mithun Chakraborty is alright. Anupam Kher is excellent. Pawan Malhotra is superb. Mukesh Tiwari and Dayashanker Pandey are first-rate as well. Lillete Dubey is wasted in a role that any other actor could've enacted. D. Santosh is competent.
On the whole, MY NAME IS ANTHONY GONSALVES is a dull fare. At the box office, it's a tough journey ahead for this film!
  
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