Boom
Boom
| 19 September 2003 (USA)
Boom Trailers

The fashion world meets the underworld in BOOM, written and directed by Kaizad Gustad and produced by Ayesha Shroff under the banner of Quest Films

Reviews
masudalam

Gustad is a lucky director in that he got to do a big film after the mediocre Bombay Boys. For Boom he got the likes of Bachan, Shroff, Zeenat Amaan et al and had the deep pockets to shoot at Burj Al Arab and pretty much wherever he wanted in India and Dubai. He also had the names of Bo Derek and Padma Lakshmi (Salman Rushdie's model girlfriend) to play up in the marketing campaign... and what did he do with all this! He sank it all.He has three cuties in the cast who are raring to bare it all, and did quite often; he got tremendous performances from the lower league actors, Gulshan Grover and specially Javed Jaffrey; there's the ever sellable cocktail of sex, drugs and money; and despite everything there ARE quite a few laughs in the film. So what went wrong?The story. Or rather the lack of it. It seems Gustad was shooting on random notes rather than a script. The result is a series of shots - some beautiful, sexy and very funny, others irrelevant or incomprehensible, or both - put together in a jumpy fashion, and served up with a lot of glitter to make it look like a feature film. Sound levels are particularly bad, and some of the dialogue is lost either in strange accents the actors are putting on, or in the sound quality. Seems like the flick was only intended to be watched, not heard.I watched the movie against many an advice, but I'd like to recommend it to all those who are interested in movies. Just to guage how so much can be squandered to produce so little, if for no other reason.

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CAMKG

You want to make a dark comedy and mix it with big spoonfuls of sex and violence. And one reason that inspires you to do it is that for Hindi cinema it would be ground-breaking. And then when you pitch your script to cast the roles, you put together an ensemble that looks fantastic on paper. And then you have the distributors knocking on your doors because the package looks so damn good. And your reputation as a filmmaker who demolishes conventional boundaries coupled with an awesome marketing campaign makes the film a delicious event to look forward to. But alas, you disappoint immensely. Not because you or the film lacks intelligence. Not because the actors don't live up to their reputation. Not because the music and photography don't add amazing tension and interest to the film. And also not because the dark elements, the funny moments or the sexual angles are missing. But because Mr. Gustad you have failed as a writer in the film. You have been unable to give the film just that minimal structure, so you could have balanced the dark and comedic elements of the film. Your pen has failed in translating your vision perhaps even on paper, but definitely on film. Maybe you realised this sitting at the editing table with your editor, because the film does seem very choppy at times. Or maybe you thought that shortening the length would distract us from the flaws. But your energy and originality are visible in every frame. Hopefully, in future you will be able to collaborate with screenplay writers just as well as you have collaborated with the actors here - who have all done well in spite of wafer-thin characters. Maybe it was intentional; to an extent it does work - but could have worked better. Style and substance should go hand in hand and not invade each other's space. You are a young budding genius whose future films I will be looking forward to. Hopefully, film financiers and producers will continue to encourage and recognize your future. In the meanwhile, Boom explodes like a grenade whose pin came off suddenly. 5/10.

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AVarma7283

Boom was a great concept with a great soundtrack. The publicity was great and of course what a great title. The title track with Ila Arun/Talvin Singh saved some of the film.It seemed that most of the film was shot in daylight, which already compromises the dramatic quality of the film. The director used master shots with wide lenses, which again compromises drama and character build up. It seemed that the script was so loose that nothing seemed to stick. There were no character arcs and the movie came to an abrupt end. Even if violence and flesh are the idea, there are ways to make it tantalizing and provide for tension. Moreover Kaizad's characters were not believable because he spent little time on each with very limited staging. If a character spends all his time in one room, or doing just one thing, we cannot be too interested in him. What we call 'Emotional Dynamics'.The motivation was missing, why were the Dons after the models, when they didnt have the Diamonds? The limited locations and bright sunlight really dampened the quality of the film. The only dramatic light was with the Shroff character. The film had tremendous potential and a great concept in the making but I guess they were in hurry to get the film made.I think Kaizad is a passionate filmmaker who has the guts to break new ground, but in doing that, it is not wise to try and break all the basic rules of story telling.

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amitku

Well so finally we are here. After having waited for so long for this movie the only thing you get is frustration. The Movie lacks everything from direction to storyline to dialogues.What did Mr. Kaizad thought when he started this project? how could you possibly impress the indian audience with the extremely obscene dialogues (which was supposed to be humorous)....Uff! I cannot go on with the review... it's truly the worst movie of my life and those 2 hours the worst spent.

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