Movie Reviews

Chura Liye Hai Tumne

Producer: David Hamilton
Director: Deepa Mehta
Starring: Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, Dina Pathak, Moushimi Chatterjee, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Akshaye Khanna (Special Appearance)

Released Date: March 21, 2003

SYNOPSIS -  Sangeeth Sivan-directed Chura Liya Hai Tumne marks the acting debut of yesteryear actor Sanjay Khan’s son Zayed Khan. The film, co-starring Esha Deol, is the story of love, trust, betrayal and the mad rush for money.

The film tells the story of Vijay (Zayed), a handsome charmer and a con man rolled into one. In a chance meeting, Vijay comes to know Tina (Esha Deol) in Goa and a romance develops between the two.

But the lovers soon separate as Tina is urgently summoned to Bangkok, Thailand, where her uncle has been killed in an accident. Vijay follows Tina to commiserate with her.

A new scandal comes to fore when Tina is told that her late uncle was wanted in India for a Rs. 10 crore gold heist from the RBI.

To further increase her troubles, three of her uncle’s accomplices, freed from Indian prisons, come to Bangkok to get the money and start chasing Tina.

Another shocking truth stuns Tina after she discovers that her beau Vijay is actually Prakash Yogi, the brother of a fourth accomplice of her uncle's in the gold theft.

Confronted with Tina, Vijay takes off all his masks to reveal his true identity. He is in fact not even Yogi but a crook who too was after the money. But he also concedes that he was in love with her.

A confounded Tina doesn’t know whom to trust and rely on in this troubled hour?

I honestly did not care to watch this film.  Why?  Because from the promos, it looked like a Kaho Naa...Pyar Hai.  Dancing on the beach...and Zayed Khan looked like a Hrithik wannabee.  He's tall, slim, and built like Hrithik.  I just thought I'll give the movie a try since nothing new was releasing because of the Piracy Strike in India.

Zayed does good for a debut film.  He doesn't live up to Hrithik Roshan, Vivek Oberoi, or even John Abraham.  However, he's better than the other newcomers that came out.  Somehow, his looks reminds me of Hrithik Roshan and John Abraham.  From far away, he can be mistaken for Hrithik because of their body built.  As for John Abraham's looks, when Zayed has that wet look and looking on the side with shades, he reminds me of John.  It's that certain cool dubbed face look when he reminds me of John.  Zayed dances well too.  If Zayed or John wins the Best Male Debutant, I'll be happy.  Some may say John doesn't deserve it cause his voice was dubbed in "Jism."

Esha Deol looks better and better in each movie.  I used to think she looked bad.  Her makeup was so bad in "Kuch To Hai."  What I like about her is her style of hair.  She changes it often and is not afraid to do it.  She is the best dancer out of the newcomers of 2000 and beyond.  I would like her to improve on her acting cause I don't think she's that bad but she can be better.  She's a little better in "Chura Liya Hai Tumne" but not the best either.

The rest of the supporting cast does a great job.  Rakhi Sawant, Gulshan Grover, Vijay Raaz, Salil Ankola all stand out in their own way.

The songs are good.  Great ones to listen to are the title song and "Mohabbat Hai Mirchi."  The title song is sung so beautifully, you can just sit and dream about your lover or the man of your dreams.  "Mohabbat Hai Mirchi" has a nice beat and makes you want to get up and dance.  In the beginning of the song, there are some Thai beats added to the music to spice the song up.

The beginning of the movie was cute but could have been avoided because it was just a dumb love type.  But the movie started to pick up once the movie took place in Thailand.  A lot of Hindi films don't film in Thailand.  The other Asian places that I remember being filmed were Hong Kong (Gumrah), Tokyo (Love In Tokyo) and Malaysia (Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke). Maybe there have been others but there haven't been much.  Overall, the movie is worth a watch, just get pass the first 20 minutes, after that, the movie flows smoothly.

7.5 out of 10

NiCKi

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