Thorns

Kaante

The only reason you might want to see this film is for the extremely effective use of fish-eye lenses and wide-angle anamorphic shots, especially in the LA strip bar. Well, of course, since they employed an American crew to shoot the film. Thanks to the top-notch production values, this film does manage to create an authentic atmosphere, to an extent. As an attempt by Indian filmmakers to adopt Western technical standards, it is just fascinating. Everything else is as wrong as wrong can be - a poor screenplay, too much style and no substance, terrible casting choices, the overuse of yellow filters, and above all, a glaring lack of realism. It must be said, however, that the dancers in the strip bar were drop-dead gorgeous, yes. Not that it helps the film. The fantasy of Indian "gangsters" in LA unintentionally reflects the degree to which Indian audiences (and directors) enjoy aping American action-movie stereotypes....

I am not a movie buff nor I have huge knowledge of movies .I agree that Kaante is a brilliant action flick from Bollywood .It is told that Kaante is inspired from Reservoir Dogs.But I think there should be a limitation of inspiration. The score is not original,two important songs {rama re,another one played on the death of major's wife} are also inspired!The making style is inspired from Martin's movies.When we love something so much and want to make some thing like that,thats called inspiration.But when we copy something consciously,thats called stealing.Most of the Bollywood movies including the name of the industry{Bollywood} are also inspired!Gupta what ever what do you do please try to make something original.Your other works are also inspired!But as a thief what else we can expect from you.

Kaante is a good film if not an excellent one.Especially after going through all the same stories in each and every film one finds this film as a refreshing film and may be introduction of a martin scorsese type crime genre to the Indian film industry(it should not be taken as if I am resembling it to the martin scorsese movies but the genre is more or less very similar).So sit tight and enjoy.

I'm still not quite sure why I had to wait nearly 4 years before I could see KAANTE, the Bollywood remake of Reservoir Dogs starring Amitabh Bachchan... the DVD just seemed to get held up in limbo, and eventually I stopped checking for it every month or two so I'm not sure exactly when it did finally come out. Was it worth the wait? No, not really... I might have enjoyed it more 4 years ago, but I've moved on and the times have moved on, and now it's just kind of... "meh". The plot is largely familiar... a group of small time crooks living in LA come together to pull off a big job... to rob the American Service Bank, the bank where all the cops have their accounts (apparently). The heist goes awry, and they suspect they have a mole in the team. RESERVOIR DOGS was already a remake itself - of Ringo Lam's CITY ON FIRE. However, Tarantino significantly changed things... switching the focus of the story from the undercover cop infiltrating a criminal gang to the gang itself, and replacing the nihilistically downbeat noir-ish vibe of CITY with a hip, street-talking post-modern sort of self-awareness (i.e. some witty dialogue). KAANTE retains the focus on the gang but largely dispenses with the wit & humour... it's a relatively straightforward tale of crime (spread out over 2.5 hours with some musical interludes, naturally). KAANTE's main claim to fame is that it was the first Indian film shot in the US... "Bollywood Goes Hollywood", as the box claims, and it's quite literally true. There is some attempt to explore the racism that the Indian community in LA encounter, with the police always picking them up as suspects and harassing them... this supposedly provides the motivation for them to actually commit the crime, since they're always being accused of it anyway... hmmm. Technically, the film is fairly well realised... quite slick and stylish (though the yellow filters which are used on outdoor scenes, presumably to make us think "smog", get a bit much). The acting is pretty good, the script is OK... the film just doesn't have much of a personality of its own. When Tarantino remade CITY ON FIRE he gave it a unique style and spin, made it into a film of its own. KAANTE doesn't seem to have such ambition - it's happy just to be "the Bollywood remake of Reservoir Dogs". Taken on these terms, it's not a bad effort... but the viewer may well be left wondering "was it really necessary?" and "couldn't it have been something more?".

This movie is an adaptation of Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs", the only difference being that there are more people in the movie. I must say, for a bollywood movie, I got more to see than I expected. I saw this movie before watching Reservoir Dogs and the performances were simply brilliant. Amitabh, Sanjay and Mahesh Manjarekar make an excellent team. If you want to relax and watch an explosive bollywood movie on a friday night, this is exactly the kind of movie you are looking for.

Yerp, this is probably 2002's most keenly anticipated bollwood film...and it clicks! thought to be a remake of reservoir dogs, this film revolves around 6 men criminals...with one traitor in them... the music in this film is no biggie, just below average...but the film's great...worth the wait...

Kaante, boasting of a millionaire star cast which includes Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, and Suneil Shetty, is Sanjay Gupta's latest Hollywood remake. Inspired from Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects, and Michael Mann's Heat, the film is about six NRI Indians who come together to pull off a bank robbery. But the movie falls short of expectations, mainly due to the gaping holes in the plot. Technically, the movie is first-rate, but Gupta's overuse of style becomes the movie's weak link. It seems that Gupta tried to camouflage the movie's inherent weaknesses with style. Performance-wise, Bachchan is commanding as the leader of the group. Shetty delivers a controlled, yet polished performance. Director-turned-actor Mahesh Manjrekar impresses with his funny antics. Lucky Ali and Kumar Gaurav hold their own. But it is the deadly Dutt who steals the show with his rugged looks and menacing screen presence. Despite its shortcomings, Kaante is a perfect popcorn flick which is worth a watch. 7/10.

This is a unique film in many ways, most of which have been touched upon. It is a refreshing new version of Bollywood film making. Cheers to Sanjay Gupta for taking the chance to be different. Sanjay Dutt was excellent in this film. He reminds me of Jean Reno, and hopefully this will open him up to an international audience. What I would also like to comment on is my performance as Detective Maquarrie. I busted my butt to give the audience a realistic LA detective, and did all my own stunts as well. It was a pleasure working with some of Bollywoods best, they are truly a great bunch of guys and were very profesional. Hats off to all of them for taking a chance on this film. If you have any comments, please feel free to e-mail me. I can also be seen in last years "Windalkers" as a marine sgt., and you will be seeing alot more of me in the future. Thanks to all that saw the film. JF Davis

Obviously Kaante was made for the Indian audience, not Americans. So, it not fair to compare with a Hollywood film. Not a perfectly made film, it does have some illogical sequences. I saw it in a packed theater. And going by the reaction, everybody seems to have enjoyed it. As for me, Kaante was the most enjoyable Hindi film in a long time. I actually felt happy after walking out of the theatre. Technically there is no Indian film that can match Kaante. Obviously, they got technicians from Hollywood. Right from cinematography to stunt co-coordinators to music supervisor. Dialogues were well written, but some might complain for being too crude. But then you don't expect gangsters to talk in Sanskrit or Urdu. Sanjay Gupta's films usually are very stylish, but very poor content wise. But this is not the case with Kaante. The story is well developed, the second half is great. But it is definitely inspired by two Hollywood films: Reservoir Dogs & The Usual Suspects. Performances by six lead guys are very good. Amitabh Bachchan is very good. Sanjay Dutt is brilliant in a tailor made role. Mahesh Manjrekar is the surprise packet. Sunil Shetty is actually good in this film. Kumar Gaurav & Lucky Ali does well also. The girls have miniscule roles. The thing I really liked about Kaante is that it didn't really focus on Love, Family Relations, and other clichéd rules of Indian Cinema. It basically defies the stereotype of Indian Films. Kaante is definitely worth a watch or two. I am going to watch it for a second time.