I'd love to give this film more stars. Akshay Kumar does his best as the unappreciated contractor son of a raja, overshadowed by his extremely corrupt brothers-in-law. There are a couple of smashing songs, some of the slapstick is hilarious and the film does highlight corruption in construction and local government.
But somehow the film doesn't quite gel. Akshay struggles to find a balance between the humour & serious elements of his role, Trisha Krishnan's commissioner is ineffectual against the tide of corruption and she lacks chemistry with Akshay outside of the songs, and the comedy seems out of place juxtaposed with the vile behaviour of the villains - there is some pretty unpleasant violence including a gang rape. Finally, the film offers no solution (easy or otherwise) to corruption.
So a promising premise peters out in an sometimes entertaining but patchy film, and the hard work by the crew has not equated to an accomplished final product. Akshay fans will probably overlook these faults.
Reasonably good English subtitles with only the odd error.
