ATLAST,AN INTELLIGENT BOLLYWOOD WMODUNIT

The Xpose

STARRING: Himesh Reshammiya, Yo Yo Honey Singh, Zoya Afroz, Sonali Raut, Ana nth Mahadevan

DIRECTOR: Akhilesh Jaiswal

When was the last time we saw an intelligent and entertaining whodunit? Normally, all they do is line up a slew of stiff cardboard suspects trying to look guiltily into the camera, and pick one of the gallery of eccentrics as the one whodunit and impute a silly motive on him.

Director Ananth Mahadevan goes at the whodunit w ith a relish here that communicates itself to the audience. Set in the film industry during the late 1960s, there is a flouncy flair and glossy aura to the story telling Mahadevan recreates the impassive allure of the entertainment industry with his tongue lodged firmly in his cheek. You can't miss the broad references to the gossip, scandal and rivalry of the fi l m industry. Playing a southern superstar with an arrogant self-regard that rivals the legendary haughtiness of1aani'Raaj Kumar, Hi mesh Reshammiya is reborn as an actor. His piercing icy-cold eyes give away nothing, and everything. He is a man in love with himself, then with a woman who he can't bear to see go astray.

Every actor, from Nakul Vaid as a matinee idol grappling with suspicion, to newcomer Zoya Afroz as a star on the rise struggling to remain virtuous i n a world built on artifice, and Sonali Raut as the slutty ambitious star on the rise who sleeps around for a price, is cast well and given a chance to effectuate his or her playing-time with punctuation marks