Game (2011/I)

Popularity:

Down 5% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.

Director:

Abhinay Deo

Writers:

Javed Akhtar (lyrics)
Farhan Akhtar (dialogue)

Release Date:

31 March 2011 (Kuwait)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

It's not Over till its Over

Plot:

A wealthy man invites four people to his private island to blame three of them for his daughter's sudden death. The next morning, the wealthy man is found murdered.

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Abhishek Bachchan	...	Neil Menon
Kangana Ranaut	...	Sia Agnihotri
Anupam Kher	...	Kabir Malhotra
Boman Irani	...	O.P. Ramsay
Jimmy Shergill	...	Vikram Kapoor
Shahana Goswami	...	Tisha Khanna
Gauhar Khan	...	Samara Shroff
Sarah-Jane Dias	...	Maya (as Sarah Jane Dias)
Mantra	...	Ranbeer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Akash Dhar
Benjamin Gilani	...	Mr. Khanna
Mohan Kapoor	...	Karamvir
Sikander Kher	...	Sunil Srivastav
David Firestar	...	Man in Strip Club (uncredited)

Directed by
Abhinay Deo

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Farhan Akhtar		dialogue
Javed Akhtar		lyrics

Produced by
Farhan Akhtar	....	producer
Lee Alliston	....	line producer
Vikesh Bhutani	....	line producer
Miriam Joseph	....	executive producer
Cengiz Karadeniz	....	line producer
Ritesh Sidhwani	....	producer

Original Music by
Shankar Mahadevan		(music) (as Shankar Ehsaan Loy)
Loy Mendonsa		(music) (as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy)
Ehsaan Noorani		(music) (as Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy)
Ram Sampath		(background score)

Cinematography by
Kartik Vijay		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Amitabh Shukla

Casting by
Nandini Shrikent

Production Design by
Shashank Tere

Costume Design by
Jaimal Odedra

Makeup Department
Anwar Khan	....	assistant makeup artist
Shabana Latif	....	key makeup artist
Altaf Mammoo	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
Niraj Pamwani	....	unit production manager
Suat Saglam	....	production manager: Turkey
Ibrahim Öter	....	production assistant: Turkey

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lakshmipriya Devi	....	first assistant director
Niraj Kothari	....	third assistant director
Menaka Nagarajan	....	second assistant director
Jai Sharma	....	second assistant director
Tiya Tejpal	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Nidhi Rungta	....	assistant art director
Anandita Sarkar	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Vikram Biswas	....	sound editor
Sanjay Chaturvedi	....	dialogue editor
Prashant Dcruz	....	sound effects editor
Udit Duseja	....	dialogue editor
Udit Duseja	....	sound effects editor
Johnston Fernandes	....	sound effects editor
Baylon Fonseca	....	film mix engineer
Baylon Fonseca	....	production mixer
Baylon Fonseca	....	sound designer
Hitendra Ghosh	....	sound re-recording mixer
Rhitwik Raj Pathak	....	associate re-recording mixer
Sameer Patra	....	assistant sound mixer

Special Effects by
Devendra Bhave	....	special effects assistant

Visual Effects by
Pranay Agarwal	....	digital compositor: Prana Studios
Shraddha Belose	....	digital compositor
Neil Cunningham	....	creative director
Radha Krishnan Damodar	....	senior digital matte artist: Reliance Media Works
Soumen Das	....	digital compositor
Salil Deshpande	....	senior digital intermediate producer
Abhishek Ghorui	....	digital compositor
Ankur Goyal	....	assistant technical director
Nitin Jadhav	....	digital compositor
Samapika Karmakar	....	digital compositor: Prana Studio
Amit Kumar	....	digital compositor
Yateen Mahambrey	....	visual effects lead
Ken Metzker	....	digital intermediate colourist
Ankit Mishra	....	rotoscope artist
Abrez Mohammed	....	digital compositor (as Mohd Abrez)
Achal Muchhala	....	digital compositor: Reliance MediaWorks Ltd.
Himesh Nagda	....	line producer: Reliance Media Works
Paresh Navlakha	....	digital compositor
Biki Prasad	....	visual effects artist Prana Studios
Rajiv Raghunathan	....	digital intermediate production head
Shubham Singh Rathore	....	visual effects artist (visual effects)
Bhavini Ashwinkumar Shah	....	visual effects coordinator
Ravi Shekhar	....	digital compositor: Prana Studio
Aditya Talwar	....	digital compositor
Meghna Thakar	....	visual effects production assistant
Sujit Tone	....	digital compositor

Camera and Electrical Department
George Anton	....	grip
Adnan Aydin	....	Turkish key grip
Bidhan Chanda	....	best boy grip
Kapil Dubey	....	grip
Karl Hui	....	focus puller: UK
Rashid Jam	....	grip
Sidharth Kale	....	camera operator
Hakan Kasirga	....	key grip
Manoj Subir Mandal	....	second assistant camera
Yiannis Maragoudakis	....	first electrician
Soumyajit Nandy	....	still photographer (as Soumyajit Toto Nandy)
Sanjay Sami	....	key grip
Sanjay Sami	....	steadicam operator

Casting Department
Devika Jamdar	....	casting assistant
Karan Pandit	....	casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Yashpal Concessao	....	costume assistant
Sharan Mishra	....	costume assistant
Urmilla Lal Motwani	....	associate costume designer
Urmilla Lal Motwani	....	wardrobe supervisor
Sheetal Sharma	....	costume assistant

Editorial Department
Manoj Chouhan	....	post-production manager
Rohit Karkera	....	digital intermediate conformist
Vasudevan Kothandath	....	digital intermediate editor
Ken Metzker	....	digital intermediate colorist
Neil Sadwelkar	....	post-production consultant

Music Department
Vishal Dadlani	....	playback singer
Game	....	additional programmer
Game	....	composer: additional music
Shreya Ghoshal	....	playback singer
Kay Kay	....	playback singer
Kshitij	....	playback singer
Anusha Mani	....	playback singer
Loy Mendonsa	....	playback singer
Sunitha Sarathy	....	playback singer
Shaan	....	playback singer
Aditi Singh Sharma	....	playback singer
Tanuj Tiku	....	composer: additional music

Other crew
Nazar Abbas	....	behind the scenes director
Mustafa Ajmeri	....	production accountant
Lakshya Raj Anand	....	assistant to director
Shiamak Davar	....	choreographer
Vijay Ganguly	....	chief assistant choreographer
Robin Merchant	....	assistant choreographer
Vaibhavi Merchant	....	choreographer
Kulthep Narula	....	line producer: Thailand
Mike Patlin	....	aerial coordinator
Shubha Ramachandra	....	script supervisor
Saurabh H. Shah	....	director assistant
Devika Shroff	....	head of marketing
Taera Shroff	....	production assistant

Thanks
Sameer Bhojwani	....	special thanks
Riteish Deshmukh	....	special thanks (as Ritesh Deshmukh)
Abhishek Kapoor	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Eros International
• Excel Entertainment

Distributors

• Eros Australia Pty. Ltd. (2011) (Australia) (theatrical)
• Slide Screen Entertainment (2011) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Eros International (2011) (worldwide) (all media)
• Excel Entertainment (2011) (worldwide) (all media)

Other Companies

• Benetone Films  production services: Thailand
• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  camera dollies

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi | English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:MA15+ (2011) | Canada:PG (British Columbia) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Ireland:15A | Singapore:NC-16 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Company:

Eros International

Trivia:

Gul Panag signed the film and shot with Abhishek for a few days. She left the film due to being upset with her character. Shahana Goswami was signed as her replacement .

It's just a Game....

In a refreshingly slick thriller, director Abhinay Deo has quite a cast to work with for his Crime Scene Investigation – 'Game', which keeps announcing that 'it's a game...'. Yes, we get the point. There are shades of the Akhtars being in charge of writing some of the story especially in the second half. While Game offers many twists in its investigative second half that differs from the first (which deals with a conspiring meeting of distinct individuals on a Greek Island), its back stories and meandering sub-plots tend to take the Game all over the place. Nevertheless, it does make up a decent Sunday afternoon DVD rental.

Four strangers from different parts of the world are summoned by the reclusive business magnate Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher) to his private island in Greece where he offers to help them in their crisis weary lives. After a welcome by Kabir's assistant Samara (Gauhar Khan), they are all greeted by Malhotra who reveals stories about each one's dark past and accuses them of being a part of his daughter's life and death. He also warns them of the impending arrival of the International Vigilance Team that will look into the proofs he provides against each of them the next day. But morning brings with it a shocking event that triggers a series of twists, sub-plots and mysteries that unfold before the intrigued viewer.

Boman Irani plays the Thai Prime Ministerial candidate Ramsay, who keeps more secrets than the number of pills that subside his high blood pressure. His portrayal as the sinister politician is the film's dark element. Jimmy Shergil plays the popular bollywood actor Vikram Kapoor whose guilty conscience disturbs him enough to cause his films to flop. His is an insignificant character to whom one cannot really relate to or even empathize with. The alcoholic journalist Tisha Khanna (Shahana Goswami) is the other inconsequential revelation as Malhotra's second daughter, the twin sibling of the murdered Maya. One may wonder where she disappeared in the second half. Neil Menon (Abhishek Bachchan) is a casino owner and drug peddler based in stunning Istanbul where he falls in love with Maya and subsequently loses her to an accident. The film's surprise element is Abhishek's character and he does enjoy this exciting twist. Kangana Ranaut as the investigating officer looks determined but hardly credible. Sarah-Jane as Maya plays a brief role, looks good in some scenes but the characterization for her failed to draw any emotions from the viewer.

With each unfolding mystery, the story keeps throwing more twists that keep the suspense alive. Unlike the C.I.D. Mysteries where analysis reveals all new characters or observation, the story tellers manage to keep it all secretive till the very end while the analysis by investigators reveals facts that were depicted in front of us which we may overlook. This is one of the intriguing aspects of the film's story telling that tends to impress. Surely, it has something to do with Javed Akhtar's skills that gave us so many thrillers in the 70's. Unfortunately, the film is not quite balanced overall. The numerous sub-plots, poorly scripted characters and direction that did not do justice to the story, all bring mediocrity to a well written plot. The film could've been a genuinely fun Game to play along but it simply lost focus in the middle and was left upon Abhishek to hold it together.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy's score is average with only the end credits song 'Kaun hai ajnabi' being worthy of a download.

If the story was the backbone of this film, the cinematography was its beautiful face. Istanbul has been depicted in all its splendour with slick shots from rooftops and its Bosphorus strait showcasing the city's fine architecture.

Game is a slick looking thriller with a good amount of twists that engage the viewer for some time. Its problems of lengthy back-stories and poor characterization tend to disrupt the steady flow of informative investigation but blame that on its inexperienced director. Too bad for Abhishek though as he had a role to capitalize on; had everything else been done right around him. It still is worthy of the home video rental if not the expensive movie theater outing. Watch it for the stylish camera work through Greece and Turkey and to engage your mind into a murder mystery that will keep you guessing.....

7.011 on a scale of 1-10.