Critics rating: 1 Stars

Cast:  Arjun Rampal, Jacqueline Fernandez, Ranbir Kapoor

Direction: Vikramjit Singh

Produced: Bhushan Kumar, Divya Khosla Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Freeway Pictures

Written: Vikramjit Singh

Genre: Thriller.

Duration: 147 Mins

Ranbir Kapoor’s character may lend the film its eponymous title but the actor’s screen time isno greater than an extended cameo. For a movie masquerading as a romantic thriller, Roy is a contrived, confusing, lethargic and pretentious romance without the romance. Do not ask yourself if this could get any worse. Roy will deliver to your perennially lowering expectations.

The semblance of a plot can be difficult to grasp but keep your interest alive (an uphill task) and you will get there. Kabir Grewal (Arjun Rampal) is a womanizing, fedora-wearing, Macallan guzzling, typewriter tapping director who is frustrated because of a writer’s block even though that does not stop him from hauling his film crew to Malaysia to shoot for the third instalment of his Guns trilogy without a script in hand. He is also known to be temperamental, obnoxious and arrogant. Essentially, he is a delight to work with.

Ayesha Amir (Jacqueline Fernandez) is a serious filmmaker in comparison and we know this because she wears glasses and is shooting a foreign film called Malacca Diaries there. She is in equal measures aloof and smitten by Kabir, despite his philandering ways. We are never entirely certain why. Their vague conversations do not serve any purpose or clarity.Kabir, in an instance of sheer professionalism, asks his assistant director to set up a shot for his film but strolls off to take Ayesha to a café instead, the shooting forgotten, by both, the characters and the makers.

 

Roy (Ranbir Kapoor), meanwhile, is an art thief, who serves as a sub-plot distraction in a budding courtship with the heroine. The character and the actor both seem to be going through the motions with an aloof indifference, taking away what could have been the film’s singular saving grace. There is a brief action sequence which is a highpoint but little else. He makes ambiguous statements to an art collector about wanting to steal and live another person’s life, which are out of context with the scenario.

Some more pointless chit-chat later, Roy does a heist so conveniently, it makes you question the claims of everyone calling him brilliant and the intelligence of the pursuing Detective Wadia (Rajit Kapoor), who seems to declare to a perfect stranger that he is hunting for a thief. Everything ultimately is pieced together in an inelegant mess but that is more a relief to the viewer than a gratifying pay-off.

AnupamKher, Shernaz Patel and Ranbir Kapoor have wasted roles in a drag of a movie. When Kabirmarvels over how his film got made, we share his sense of wonder with a dose of bitterness. How, indeed?

 

The graphic novel opening may seem fetching but makes little sense in the overall narrative. A lot of character threads that could have contributed to the story are abandoned midway or disposed off in a great hurry. The songs pep up the proceedings for a while but the film suffers on account of poor writing.

Despite a good trailer and a gorgeous cast, Roy is a class act that fails to rise above the sheen of subdued aesthetics, despite its meta concept. If you were gearing up for an art heist film, How to Steal a Million and The Thomas Crown Affair are better choices.