Producer: Ganesh Jain 
Director: Abbas Mastan 
Cast: Akshay Khanna, Amisha Patel, Bobby Deol
Music: Himesh Reshmmiya  
Lyrics: Sudhakar Sharma

This duo in white is known for the way they have executed their remakes. Whatever it be, their first Hindi film Khiladi (Remake of Khel Khel Mein) or their latest Humraaz (inspired by A Perfect Murder and Dial M For Murder), they are finally the people who know their jobs well.

With Humraaz, they pile the thrills and chills high. Minus the gaudy, filmi frills, Humraaz retains its edge-of-the-seat quality for most part. Therefore, it qualifies to be one of the more interesting films the industry has seen in the past few months. While the originals were about greed and other sleazy motives, Abbas-Mustan add a dash of Indian values to the original and make the wife, initially in collusion with her lover, begin to grow conscious of her spousal duties.

Thus Karan and Priya (Akshaye Khanna and Amisha Patel) are the romantically-involved lead pair of a music and dance troupe. They hope to bag the prestigious assignment of performing on a luxury cruise liner owned by shipping tycoon Raj Singhania (Bobby Deol). Though the auditions are rigged and the troupe is not selected, Karan eliminates that 'problem.' And the open seas and high tides now beckon. Aboard the luxury liner, en route from Singapore to Malaysia, the entertainers are appreciated for their performances --- while Raj, who meets Priya, is drawn to her charming naiveness and innocent beauty. A candlelit dinner, a few dances and waltz round Kuala Lumpur and he is hook, line and sinker. On the high seas again, Priya reels Raj in as she welcomes his every advance while Karan plays jilted lover to the hilt. The filmmakers, however, leave you with the feeling that something is amiss.What was that about still waters running deep? Anyway, when Raj produces the engagement ring on Priya's birthday, she graciously accepts. Then, she runs to Karan all hugs-and-kisses, telling him their get-rich-quick ploy using every trick in the 'Marry millionaire, divorce him and claim the living daylights as alimony' reckoner is working swell.

Sweet mother of God! You realise the devils-in-disguise are in cahoots as the film breaks for intermission. The second half sees the action shuttle between Jaipur and Mumbai. The wedding goes off as planned but Priya now is unsure if she wants to continue the game. Adding to excitement is a troupe member Hari, who knows of the 'skeletons' in Karan's closet. A 'conspiracy theory' meets 'you've got blackmail' and the narrative sees deception reach dizzying new heights as the plot maneuvers round many a bend, much to the audience's delight.

The three stars Bobby, Amisha and Akshaye Khanna remain locked in a triangular tussle to the end and come up with enticing double-layered performances. Though most of Abbas-Mustan's thrillers are derived from Hollywood - Daraar was Sleeping With The Enemy remade and Baazigar was Kiss Before Dying - they take the foreign idea and mould it to a great degree to suit Indian conditions.

The best thing about Abbas-Mustan's films is the editing. Abbas-Mustan's sibling Hussain Burmanwala cuts sequences in Humraaz with a surgeon's precision. In the climax, where a masked killer attacks Amisha at home as the husband (Bobby) seethes in his pained vindication at work, is so well done that even Hitchcock would have approved. Performance wise, Bobby, has successfully tried to blend suave eroticism of Robert Redford in Indecent Proposal with Ajay Devgan's martyred husband's role in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in his take on the tycoon. Amisha is back in the recoking after the four flops she gave. Although there is no screaming and sobbing here, her performance has improved leaps and bounds. It goes to show what a good director can derive from talented artistes.

The film's triumph is Akshaye. It is his movie all the way. As the first leading man to play an out-and-out villain, he jumps into his diabolism with relish. He plays Karan as a symptom of today's materialistic impulses. Not to be missed his facial expression in the wedding part sequence. Following Dil Chahata Hai with this film, Aksahye has proved all his detractors wrong.

Musically, the film has it all in the right place, with characters being dancers, song and dance don’t look out of place, another reason to credit the screenplay writer. The directors do take their time establishing the scheme of things, spoonfeeding the audience at times. Also, the experience would be more rivetting, had the film been a little shorter. But such minors flaw, we shall let pass. Humraaz, definitely, merits a dekho.