MartinHafer "Johnny Goddaar" is a very good crime film. It's about a gang leader who betrays his friends...yet none of the other leaders know who the betrayer is...and end up killing each other or being killed as a result.The film concerns a small group of hoods who all report to the local boss. When the boss arranges for a huge shipment of money to be picked up and transported back to him, Vikram decides it's a chance to once and for all make a big score--a score that will enable him to disappear with a fellow gangster's wife, Minni. But Minni's husband, Shardul, is a tough guy and so are the rest of the gangsters...and Vikram sure doesn't seem tough enough to carry it off. His only chance is if he's incredibly lucky...and he is throughout most of the film...incredibly lucky! But, like many crime films, his luck can only hold up so long.So what did I like about this film? Mostly it was the very clever story--especially the way everything worked out perfectly by the end of the film. One of the better Bollywood gangster films I've seen and well worth your time.

museumofdave Some of the advance publicity for this adventure announced this as a "comedy," which nearly put me off, and, in this case, could not be further from the truth, and I would not want to have missed this unusual and exciting and challenging film. This is an immersion in style, a Bollywood venture into the gangster thriller, enlivened by superb ensemble work and exciting and colorful visuals.The young anti-hero, attractive Neil Nitin Mukesh, attempts to set members of his gang one against the other, hoping to run off with ill-gotten gains; with an initially confusing narrative, the willing viewer will soon be caught up in an intense cat-and-mouse game richly scored, with only a single dance number (which actually heightens the tension); the film takes the viewer full-circle from the violent opening to the perhaps surprising finale. Recommended!

shariqq There is no dispute on Vijay Anand being the de facto Master of Suspense/Thriller in Indian Cinema history. So when we have a movie that pays tribute to this master (starting from quite an obvious title), purists like me sit up and get ready to tear apart any failings. Consider the astonishment when the movie not only lives up to the name, but dignifies it! That this movie actually got made, and then received a wide-release is in itself a surprise - hardly are any studios or distributors in India who support movies that do not conform to the fabric of established norms of Bollywood. Yet we have this movie. Raghavan gives us a genuine film-noir that is so rare that it is easy to lose it in the mêlée of mediocrity that Bollywood blockbusters represent.An almost gray-scale visual theme with shocks of Red (very Sin City - nobody is innocent), no break-out sessions for song&dance and a crisp running time (135 minutes) alienates it from regular cinema. The movie revels in what it is, and religiously refers to the works it inspires from. Yet, and in doing so, it establishes a unique identity that would live through the said mêlée.The casting choices of the movie also make for a great ensemble, especially with the presence of Dharamendra, whose stature and age are also put to great use. Neil Nitin Mukesh makes his debut, and is already lost in the shadows while lights shine on other star-kids. Yet he plays the most daring and convincing maiden role to establish a sure-fire position on the "to-be-watched" list.Raghavan makes the most inherently "cool" movie of the year, complete in 60's retro garb of film-making (cinematography, editing, character focus, color grading) that fits right in with the film-noir subject. If not for the obvious anachronisms, this could easily have been a movie from the 60s, if not from the Master himself.

bollywoodplusplus 3 hrs back: Had seen some references to various characters in Johnny Gaddaar in some blogs, and the song Move your body tonight's guitar riff was infectious. So just picked up the DVD without a lot of expectations. After all the only two familiar faces in the movie were Dharmendra and Vinay Pathak.Now after 3 hrs: The movie is nothing shot of brilliant, in all film-making departments.The script: Tight from the first frame till the last, never leave you to catch a breath.The cinematography: a treat! Well, nothing out of the world, spectacular, of sort, but very very subtle, and simply rocks! Some shots create a tension/curiosity and resolves itself few moments later. Some shots like when Neil is dreaming of getting beaten by Shiva and then camera pans onto a sleeping Neil, on the same shot - more than the shot itself, I admire the thought process of the cinematographer. This whole create-tension-then-reveal aspect of the cinematography is truly in-sync with the movie. Some shots like Zakir Hussain falling on the glass center table in slowmo is very well shot. I kept rewinding many scenes like that. Truly artistic. A+Music: The tremolo efct of the guitar in the title song is even more infectious than the Hard Kaur's guitar riff (in 'Move your body')! And btw, the harmonium and 'doob ja mere pyar mein' over a hip-hop number is absolutely a riot.Editing: Sleek. Of course, half of my appreciation for cinamtography couldn't have been possible without a solid editing.Acting: Everyone from main characters to the SHiva's mom character do a very good job. Zakir Hussain and Vinay Pathak are just treat to watch. As newcomers, if 2007 belonged to Deepika Padukone (of OSO) lookwise, I think the year belongs to Neil for both look and acting! Would love to watch more of him.Direction: Bravo! I must admit, haven't seen any of Sriram's movies before, but its my homework to watch some of them! Hope to see more of his work in future. I hear the movie was not released worldwide, its sad to see many junk movies are released with much fanfare, but gems like this goes unnoticed. Fantastic direction, and to bring out such stellar performance out of newcomers as well as lesser known actors, is admirable.Overall, the movie Rocks, and one of the best of the year (2007) alongwith Metro, Bheja Fry, Jab We Met, Chak De India, and a few others.