Mr. X (2015) Review!!

Synopsis – After gaining the power of invisibility; a man becomes a vigilante, in order to take revenge on those who have wronged him.

My Take – Since the time I have started watching Bollywood films, the Bhatts have always been one of my favorites. Yes! They shamelessly borrow from Hollywood, South Korean films & or any other industry to copy from, yet with their skill to rely on minimal technique & unknown faces has always intrigued me! The audience & the box office back in India would agree with me on that! As a result it really horrifies me to think, why would they invest in this crap fest & did I mention Fox Studios are the co producers! The same goes for ever charming Emraan Hashmi who has been having a tough luck at the BO as of late, why say yes to film which aims to make a joke out of you! The failure of this film owes to none but the very questionable director Vikram Bhatt! Agreed he has had some success in the form of Ghulam, Raaz (the 1st installment not the 3D one), the 1920 franchise & Haunted 3D. Mainly due to the success of the mildly entertaining Haunted 3D, Vikram Bhatt has gone down an obsession churning out bad 3D films one after another like Creature 3D. Yet, the VFX is so shoddy & bad is here, it makes Creature 3D look like a masterpiece in comparison! As the promos clearly shows this horrifying inspiration of Hollow Man & Dark Man follows Raghuram Rathod (Emraan Hashmi), an officer in the Mumbai anti-terrorism squad. After surviving a deadly attack in a chemical factory due to his non compliance & framing (for killing the Chief Minister) by his supervisor (Arunoday Singh).

Raghu is ‘saved’ by his IT agent Polo (Tanmay Bhatt of AIB fame) & helpful scientist sister who offers him an anti-radiation drug still in the testing stage that instantly results in complete cell regeneration, but also turns him invisible except in direct sunlight and ultra violet lighting. Raghu, who now rechristens himself Mr X, decides to use these new ‘powers’ to seek revenge on his offenders. Meanwhile his fiancee Sia (Amyra Dastur), a fellow officer in the ATS, literally “sniffs” out the fact that Raghu is Mr X, and convinced that he has gone rogue, becomes obsessed with stopping him in his blood-thirsty mission. Yup! That is actually the plot of his humdrum of a movie! Initial frames appeared as if the movie might build up an interesting plot of ATD’s (Anti Terrorist Department) efforts to save the Chief Minister’s life but later turns out to be a mere flick of illogically knit sub-plots of vicious conspiracy, saviors turning out to be murderers, treachery, betrayal, power-hungry dirty games, flashes of romance (though it is hardly romantic), and the main plot of journey of Raghuram Rathod to be the invisible killer. Irony is, Mr. Invisible is hardly invisible, & dominates the screen space most of the time. Sia who claims that Raghu is her only emotional anchor believes at the spur of the moment that he is wrong and starts hating him. And later when she encounters the invisible Mr. X, she infers him to be Raghu just with a simple touch with the invisible. She is able to relate with the ‘Bheeni Bheeni Khushbhu’ of Raghu and declares to ADP and others that Mr. X is none other than Raghu. It is ironic that Mr. X’ body retains the original fragrance even after the accident or chemical treatment of his body. Sia is not surprised / shocked to learn regarding Raghu being alive. She does not even try to understand what he went through, but still knows very well that when and how he can become visible. Sia is shown to be a die-hard honest officer, but neither her heart functions nor her mind. She responded to him with great acrimony most of the time. And Raghu realizes that his transformation to Mr. X is not for his love but to initiate his revenge saga.

Mr. X is shown in his torn jacket all the time. The logic??? The invisible person doesn’t need to take bath, doesn’t need to change clothes, but definitely does need love. Even when the whole refinery has caught fire, a telephone line is intact. Raghu who survives this fire is still strong enough to make a call. Neither his appearance change nor his jacket. Ah! I hate to say this but the film actually potential! Yet writer – director Vikram Bhatt decides to go down a half baked revenge storyline which doesn’t even hold up! Bhatt films tend to have good music, luckily Jeet Ganguly & Ankit Tiwari find success in that department! The performances – Emraan Hashmi looked bored and restrained. After an unsuccessful debut in the Romeo Juliet adaption ‘Issaq’, the talented Amyra Dastur is let down by poor dialogues & mundane direction. Arunoday Singh had the most unintentionally funny dialogues in the film, really awkward for a guy playing the main antagonist. Tanmay Bhatt weirdly had the best role. Its surprising to see a live action film from experienced film makers filled with continuity errors. For example, the story is set in Mumbai, but the chase scenes, and other action sequences are clearly shot somewhere in the foreign & what is with Emraan’s facial hair popping up & out throughout the film? For a film with sci fi elements the VFX are outlandish and tacky. A serious request to Mr Vikram Bhatt, please go back to doing what you are good at i.e Horror, leave 3D aside! For the sake of 3D, leave it aside! On the whole, ‘ Mr X’ is a top contender for the worst film of 2015 (as if now), try your best to avoid this lazily scripted sad excuse of a movie, even if you are a Bhatt or an Emraan Hashmi fan. Yes! Its that bad!