ridiculous rating

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Emraan Haashmi is one of the popular heroes (though not in the league of the Khans or the Deols) of Bollywood today. Footpath (2003) is his debut movie which was made by his uncles Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt as his launchpad only. I had gone to watch it mainly because of its songs because I had listened to its music album containing some beautiful compositions of Nadeem Shravan and I had liked them very much. That liking only led me to watch the movie also.Footpath is nothing but one of the many Bollywood versions of Hollywood movie - Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). Mahesh Bhatt himself had directed one of such versions which was Angaaray (1998) taking Akshay Kumar in lead role and Naagarjuna in second lead. He wrote the script of Footpath with the same basic grains but handed over the duty to direct the movie to Vikram Bhatt. Aaftaab Shivdaasaani has been cast in the lead role (done by Akshay Kumar in Angaaray) and debutante Emraan Haashmi has been taken in the second lead. Another associated but meaty role has gone to Raahul Dev. Well, when there are males, females are also needed as their love interest. So Bipasha Basu, Aparna Tilak and Anupama Verma are there as the leading ladies.Foothpath is the story of three friends who get separated in childhood due to an incident that concluded with the murder of a person. Out of these three friends, two are real brothers having a sister also who likes the friend of her brothers very much. This bloody incident has taken place in Mumbai in which the friend of the brothers and the sister has already lost his father. Being an orphan now, he runs away from the city itself and grows up as Arjun (Aaftaab Shivdaasani). Twenty years have passed since then and Arjun is living the straight life of a law-abiding citizen in Delhi when a cop (Anup Soni) meets him and pressurizes him to do the job of an undercover agent of the police against his childhood buddies who are outlaws and still operate in Mumbai as drug-dealers.A reluctant Arjun moves to Mumbai and meets his childhood buddies Shekhar (Raahul Dev) and Raghu (Emraan Haashmi) who work for a big narcotics smuggler Sheikh (Irrfaan). He happens to meet their sister Sanjana (Bipasha Basu) also who lives separately from her brothers because of not liking their illegal activities. The childhood love of Arjun and Sanjana gets rekindled on one hand and Arjun tries to draw his friends out of the quagmire of crime. In case of Raghu who is more sensitive and emotion-led, he succeeds because of Raghu's love for an English teacher (Aparna Tilak) who loses her brother because of his being a drug-addict. However Shekhar is not that sensitive and Arjun fails in bringing him out of the world of crime. The story ends with the union of Arjun and Sanjana after the elimination of the drug smuggling racket running in Mumbai as well as the deaths of Shekhar and Raghu.This story of an undercover agent working against his own friends has been hackneyed like anything in Bollywood. Only a good and engaging script written for this another version of Angels With Dirty Faces would have succeeded in appealing to the audience. Unfortunately, neither the script, nor the direction is up to the mark in case of Footpath. The movie has its moments but overall, it fails to impress the viewer. All the characters of the movie appear to be artificial. All the incidents shown in the movie appear to be completely filmy. None of the three romantic angles has been developed properly. Hence this movie can be sit through and enjoyed only when the viewer watches it with a low expectation.The biggest flaw that I found in the script and the direction of this movie that Arjun takes an easier path. He keeps on pursuing Raghu, the sensitive one to leave the wrong path and doesn't make even the smallest effort for pursuing money-minded and insensitive Shekhar to mend his ways.Music is one of the plus points of the movie. As said earlier, I was instigated to see this movie only by certain songs of the movie. One good song - Chain Aapko Mila Mujhe Deewangi Mili is only in the album and not in the movie (interestingly, it was used in another movie - Hungama released in 2003 itself). Saari Raat Teri Yaad Mujhe Aati Rahi, Kitna Pyara Pyara Hai Sama, Zara Dekh Mera Deewaanapan, Ab Samajh Aaya Ki Duniya Kya Hai etc. are quite good to ears. Their picturization is also okay.Technically, the movie is so-so. Its length is definitely on the higher side. Girish Dhamija has written routine dialogs for it.Emraan Haashmi has drawn his heart out for this debut movie of himself. He has delivered a very touching and impressive performance, giving signals that he's the horse of a long race. All others including my favourite heroine Bipasha Basu and highly talented Irrfaan are, unfortunately, just routine. TV actress Aparna Tilak has played Emraan's love interest. This is the only appearance of hers on the big screen (never acted in any other movie). Though she has got a meaty role, she hasn't been able to impress. Anupama Verma has played Shekhar's love interest in this movie and her role appears to be that of a glorified extra. Aaftaab Shivdaasaani is miscast in the lead role.With my rating of 2.5 stars, I recommend Footpath as a one time watch to those who like the music of Nadeem Shravan as well as to die-hard Emraan Haashmi fans.

Mahesh Bhatt's ANGAAREY(1998) was a flop at the B.O, The film a remake of STATE OF GRACE(1990).Surprisingly even Salman Khan's AUZAAR had a similar story which released in 1997 and flopped ANGAAREY was a well made film with some flaws like some forced masala elements and a weird villain Gulshan Grover and the film tilted towards action to fit Akshay's action hero image but yet it stands out as Akshay's one of decent films of 90s when his career was going through bad times. FOOTPATH(2003) follows the same part but yet the film isn't entirely bad, In fact in many ways it's better then ANGAAREY. Vikram Bhatt has done some changes in the film, Emraan's character is a mix of Nagarjun and Irfan Kamal of the original and the bonding is handled much better this time. Even the villainy is not like the original and treated much better. The film starts off well though in old fashioned style but yet scenes are well handled though several questions are unanswered like how Aftab becomes a real estate agent? Childhood love of Aftab-Bips also looks far-fetched, Plus the reason Aftab runs away in childhood is not too clear Yet the scenes between Aftab and Emraan, their coming together, their bonding Emraan's scenes with his sweetheart are well handled, also Bipasha- Aftab story is well handled but too many songs do get on the nerves There are several well handled scenes like Aftab confronting Anup Soni, The transformation in Emraan Hashmi's character, the film manages to evoke emotions, though the end does come across as tad filmy yet the drama is well handled.Direction by Vikram Bhatt is superb, The Mahesh Bhatt touch is evident throughout the film Music by Nadeem Shravan is tuneful, ZARA DEKH, KITNA PYARA and SAARI RAAT stand out but they do come at quick succession, the best song is Dost Milte hai by Kumar Sanu This film marks the first time Himesh and Emraan came together, as the song SOORAT TERI PYAARI is composed by Himesh Dialogues by Girish Dhamija are fantasticAftab Shivdasani tries very hard and does manage to play his character well, though at times he does try really too hard and it shows Yet this is one of his better performances. Bipasha Basu(with a dubbed voice) annoys with her heaving and hamming. The real find is Emraan Hashmi, who debuted this film, the actor was known as a serial kisser post MURDER but in this film he plays a lovable goon and plays it so perfectly for his debut, He even overshadows Aftab Shivdasani. Though his voice was dubbed by someone else(Regular in Bhatt films for a debut) Aparna Tilak is decent Rahul Dev is excellent, while Irfan Khan in a cameo excels as usual Anup Soni is fantastic rest are adequate

I just love it when a film maker spends more time on the script than the glitz, and Footpath is nothing short of gritty when it comes to that. Arjun, Shekhar, Raghu and Sanjana are all childhood friends (Sanjana is actually the younger sister of both Shekhar and Raghu) who grew up in a tough neighbourhood in Mumbai and witness more than children should in the process. A case of revenge gone awry sends young Arjun fleeing for his life to New Delhi. 12 years pass and some police officers finally track him down and offer him a deal that they won't expose him provided he goes undercover for them to unveil the source of drug trafficking in Mumbai. Arjun reluctantly agrees to do the job only to reach Mumbai and find out that the key drug peddlers are his childhood friends Shekhar and Raghu. A life of deceit, lies, denial, betrayal, loneliness, and guilt ensues in this lush suspenseful drama that is Foothpath. The title of the film actually comes from the famous footpath that people walk on in the neighbourhood where the kids grew up. Bipashu Basu gives a riveting performance as the bittersweet Sanjana, and Aftab Shivdasani is stellar as Arjun! Not to mention the awesome chemistry he shares with the brothers and sister, especially the sister. The music is as haunting as it is beautiful. The acting is superb and award worthy. A must see!

This is an interesting film in that it begins as a solid 10 but gradually loses fractions of points as it bows to Bollywood conventions. If director Vikram Bhatt would have forgone some of those clichéd moves, which seem present only to appeal to the lowest common denominator, and tightened up the film a bit both in terms of its story and its pacing/running time, this could have easily been a 10.Footpath is the tale of four childhood friends in Mumbai--Arjun Singh (Aaftab Shivdasani), Rahul Srivastav (Emran Hashmi), Shekhar Srivastav (Rahul Dev), and Sanjana (Bipasha Basu). Rahul and Shekhar have a tendency to get into trouble. Arjun has a tendency to hang out with them, and Sanjana, despite being friends with all of them, is always trying to coax Arjun to get on a straight and narrow path.Throwing a monkey wrench into the works, Arjun's father, a union leader, is killed by anti-unionists at the beginning of the film. Arjun witnesses his father's death. Rahul and Shekhar find out who killed him and urge Arjun to seek vengeance. When Arjun cannot carry it out, his friends do so instead. Arjun is sent away, although Rahul sees him off with a heartfelt oath that they will always be friends, no matter what.Years later, Arjun is living in New Delhi under an assumed name. The police blame him for the retribution death and may still be looking for him after all of this time (although this might just be a "front"). They catch up to him and propose an odd deal--if Arjun will help them penetrate a ring of drug dealers, enabling them to find out who is the high man on the totem pole, they'll let Arjun go free. To make matters more complicated, the drug dealers are the Srivastav brothers, and the policeman in charge reveals that he has just received an encounter order (a kind of governmentally-authorized hit) on the Srivastavs. If Arjun doesn't cooperate, not only will he be arrested and tried for the long-past murder, his friends will assuredly end up dead.Although roughly taken from State of Grace (1990) and bearing similarities to Footpath co-writer Mahesh Bhatt's Angaaray (1998), that's a great premise and Vikram Bhatt effectively milks it to achieve tonal similarities to The Godfather (1972) and Scarface (1983), but with more of an emphasis on friendship and complex romances. In the beginning, at least, the direction, script, cinematography and performances all come together to create a taut, gritty and compelling story. The cinematography during the opening is some of the best I've seen from Bollywood yet--it's appropriately gloomy, with interesting angles/set-ups and it's well edited. To make the film even more attractive, Bhatt admirably pulls no punches when it comes to violence and later gives us an unusual amount of sexiness, too (at least compared to the Bollywood films I've seen so far).But slight problems begin to arise when Bhatt makes concessions to tradition. The first song in the film enters when Arjun, Rahul and Shekhar head to a club that might be some kind of Indian equivalent to a "girlie" club. In this context, the song mostly works--it at least feels "organic" to the film. However, it gets blown up slightly into the typical big production number, which takes away some of the atmosphere of a girlie club.However, there are a number of later songs that are more typical of Bollywood musicals--in the middle of the narrative, characters suddenly break out into song, and they're suddenly traveling around the country to sing in different locales. And even though this is essentially a film about gangsters and friendships, the songs are still in the context of romances, with characters rambling on and on about not being able to sleep at night, pining for the one they desire, being "tortured" by love, and so on. Every song seemed to include the words "dil" ("heart") and "pyaar" ("love") in every line. Not every film needs these types of songs, and especially not every film needs romance songs. The romance subplots, sans the songs, are fine. There are two of them, and they both work well when they're done in a dramatic mode. But the songs simply break the mood of the film, and what was an excellent, tight and gripping gangster flick becomes generic clips on an Indian variety television show. I subtracted a point for this, but would have subtracted more if the film weren't otherwise so excellent.The other point I subtracted for a combination of two things. The first is what I call "sprawl". Somewhere in the middle, the narrative begins getting a bit loose--not enough to lose one's attention, but enough to amplify how streamlined and focused the beginning of the film was in contrast. It seems like this might be another bow to convention--Bollywood films traditionally run between 2 and 3 hours, tending closer to 3. But not every film needs to be that long. Footpath could have used some trimming. The other problem was that a few scenes towards the end of the film are a bit overacted and overdirected. Bhatt is trying to amplify the emotional impact of these scenes. But they would have played better, and been more impactful, if understated instead.The above is more nitpicking than specifying serious structural problems. Overall, Footpath is a very good film, but it had the potential to be quite excellent. It would not have needed to be unprecedented to be an excellent film. The technical elements are mostly superb. The performances and direction are mostly superb. The story is beautifully gritty, enthralling and relatively chance-taking. It's important for Bollywood filmmakers to know that for at least some of their audience, bowing to conventions is hurting more than helping. There is great artistry in Bollywood films, and no need to put a veil over it by squeezing the artistry into a template.