Film review: Mr X

Mr X, director Vikram Bhatt’s latest 3-D effort after Creature in 2014 and Raaz 3 in 2012, is only the second Hindi film about an invisible hero, after 1987’s Mr India.

Emraan Hashmi in Mr X. Courtesy Empire International Gulf
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Mr X

Director: Vikram Bhatt

Starring: Emraan Hashmi, Amyra Dastur, Arunoday Singh

One star

Mr X, director Vikram Bhatt's latest 3-D effort after Creature in 2014 and Raaz 3 in 2012, is only the second Hindi film about an invisible hero, after 1987's Mr India.

It stars Emraan Hashmi as Raghu, the top cop in a special police unit, who gets caught in a web of lies and deception, kills a prominent politician and ends up with his colleagues after his blood. An explosion is rigged to dispose of Raghu, but he miraculously (and without any convincing explanation) survives.

In a desperate bid to save his life after exposure to high levels of radiation, he’s given an experimental drug that has the unusual side effect of making him invisible – as a result, he can only be seen in certain kinds of light.

What follows is a predictable revenge saga in which the invisible Raghu, renaming himself Mr X, vows to hunt down his enemies.

And because a Bollywood film can’t not have a romantic angle, Raghu is in love with his colleague Siya, who is played by the robot-like Amyra Dastur – which probably explains why their chemistry is one-sided.

Hashmi is not much better than his leading lady, though, and both deliver underwhelming performances. But if you have to pick, Dastur wins hands down for the worst acting, especially with her lack of expression and monotone dialogue delivery.

The baddy in the film is the police chief Bhardwaj, menacingly portrayed by Arunoday Singh, who sets a trap for Raghu. The rivalry between the two comes to a head during a chase at the film’s climax, but the sequence is far too long and unimaginatively shot, leaving you squirming impatiently in your seat, wishing for it to end.

But perhaps the worst thing about Mr X is that it's a throwback to the Bollywood of the 1990s – it offers the audience exactly the same cinematography standards, which makes for a pretty disappointing experience, especially in 3-D.

The special effects are outrageously dated, the dialogue is cheesy and clichéd, the acting is wooden and the action sequences are clumsily choreographed. Mr X is so bad, cinemas are likely to look pretty empty during screenings – and it won't be because the audience is invisible.

artslife@thenational.ae