Tashan

Vishal-Shekhar's "Tashan" is a chaotic mess that mistakes loudness for energy and convoluted plotting for cleverness. The premise—a heist comedy with lovers and a mercenary chasing scattered loot across India—has potential, but director Vijay Krishna Acharya throttles it with an exhausting screenplay that can't decide if it's a romance, a comedy, or an action film. Ajay Devgn sleepwalks through his role as Jimmy with all the charisma of cardboard, while Kareena Kapoor tries her best to inject some spark as Pooja but is let down by material that reduces her character to a plot device. Saif Ali Khan, playing Bachchan, at least commits to the absurdity, but even his efforts can't salvage the bloated runtime or the cringe-inducing humor that lands with the grace of a sledgehammer.

What's particularly frustrating is how the film squanders genuine comic potential in its second half. The concept of these three disparate characters bonding while hunting for treasure could've been fun, but instead we get tedious song sequences, recycled Bollywood tropes, and a "shocking" reveal about Pooja and Bachchan's past that barely registers. The chemistry between leads is nonexistent—there's no spark, no wit, no reason to care whether Jimmy and Pooja end up together. Acharya has crafted a film so determined to be a "big" movie that it forgets to be an entertaining one. The technical execution is slick enough, sure, but slickness can't hide the hollow center of this expensive vanity project.

R