Producer: Subhash Ghai, Elahe Hiptoola, Rahul Puri
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Lina Christianson, Vikram Inamdar, Yatin Karyekar, Naseruddin Shah, Vijay Maurya, Manmeet Singh
Naseruddin Shah, Jeneva Talwar
Music: Salim Merchant, Sulaiman Merchant, Ronnie Shirish, Sukhwinder Singh, Pritam Chakraborty

Nagesh Kukunoor returns to from where he initiated with ‘Bombay To Bangkok’, which is more or less a lighthearted attempt on the director’s part to dish out something different from his usual stuffs. And going by the way his film has shaped up, we can happily agree that its not ‘same-same, but different’ from Nagesh’s stable.

But the going is hardly impressive for the film that looks promising in the opening but gives away to mediocrity midway through. The plot is exciting enough but an immature execution of the plan kills the fizz.

Nagesh’s expertise and brilliant cinematic sensibilities do help to oar the film to a good start and certain scenes are worth a watch. But the impact the film ought to have on a whole is utterly lagging.

 To be precise, ‘Bombay To Bangkok’ misses out on the charm of good narration that eventually makes the film a pity affair.

Shankar (Shreyas Talpade) is a small-time chef who compelled by need is forced to steal money from a local goon (Naseeruddin Shah). Unable to handle the threat, he disguises himself and joins a team of doctors heading to Bangkok for relief operation. But amidst all this chaos and confusion, the money he pilfers gets misplaced.

Away in Bangkok, he bumps into a Thai masseuse Jasmine (Lena) and immediately falls for her. But language poses a problem for him and he is unable to do away with his feelings. Later hopes comes his way when Lena comes running looking for a doctor.

Seeing this as a great chance, Shankar cons himself as a doctor and together with his Sardar friend Rachinder carries on with the act. Meanwhile, poor Lena without any inkling about Shankar’s real identity naively becomes a part of his awkward chase to save his life from the don and his son (Vijay Maurya).

Kukunoor is widely famous for erecting strong characters and ‘Bombay To Bangkok’ stands as a testimony to this fact. Shankar as a chef turned thief running for life is impressive. So is the character of Jasmine who volunteers medical help during the day while running a massage parlor at night is equally convincing. More so the character of the don who seems to be keener on building a career as a rap artiste than looking for his money is another feather to his cap. However, inspite of having such great characters to its credit, the film fails to leave an impression.

The problem actually rests with the screenplay that somewhere spills water over the hard labor forwarded by the entire team of this film. Also the fact that Nagesh hits the bull’s eye with his character but falls flat when screenplay is concerned is disappointing.

Although touted as a comedy, this is not the kind of film that prides itself on senseless wit. Rather it is the kind of comedy that is refreshingly thoughtful and comic. The music of the film is quite gratifying. But the same cannot be said about the cinematography. Instead of stretching the film to outskirts of Bangkok, Nagesh should have invested on highlighting the picturesque locales of the town.

As far as the performances are concerned, Shreyas is good as ever and so is the Thai actress Lena. Vijay Maurya is also good. Naseeruddin Shah, who enters into the frame for just one scene, makes his presence felt all throughout.

To sum up, ‘Bombay To Bangkok’ makes for a good time-pass film, but as far as box-office race is concerned, the film lacks enough verve to even compete for it.