Vikram Bhatt is a director who has specialized in films that have a supernatural element to them. He has tried his hand at various genres that would allow him to play with visual effects and bring to fore a world or characters the audience has not witnessed before. After directing several horror films and making the country’s first ‘creature’ film, he wields the megaphone for Mr. X, a sci-fi thriller. Several films have been made on the subject of a man who goes invisible, the most prominent of them being ‘Mr. India’. However, the promos of Mr. X indicate that the film is a revenge saga and not exactly a children-friendly superhero flick. The director had last collaborated with Emraan Hashmi for ‘Raaz 3’ which raked in the moolah for its makers. After delivering a string of flops in the last two years, Emraan is in dire need of a hit film. He seems to be back in a film that exploits his image as a romantic hero in a thriller setting. Will this film do the trick for him? Let’s find out.
Inspector Raghuram Rathore (Emraan Hashmi) works with the Anti-Terrorist Department and is about to get married to his colleague Siya Varma (Amyra Dastur). Just a day before they are about to get married, Raghu and Siya are sent on a mission by ACP Bhardwaj (Arunodaya Singh). The mission is to look after the security of the Chief Minister who is under threat. Raghu goes about the mission and realizes that the attack on the minister is being engineered by some people working inside the system. After being confronted by the shocking revelation, Raghu is asked to kill the minister. If he does not comply with their orders, they would kill Siya. Raghu shoots the minister and tries to escape but is caught by the culprits. They beat him mercilessly and try to get him killed. Raghu survives but finds himself in a malformed state. His friend Popo (Tanmay Bhat) and a scientist (Shruti Ulfat) help him recover. They soon realize that due to coming into direct contact with some chemicals in the refinery in which he was left to die, Raghu’s body has had some reactions which make him invisible. Raghu, with his newfound power, decides to seek revenge from the people who wronged him.
The first half is as predictable as it gets and is full of clichés that one has seen in several Hindi films. You find yourself predicting as to what will happen next and patting yourself on your forecasting skills. There could have been a better and elaborate explanation about the way Raghu becomes invisible. While the makers pitch in with some unconvincing scientific explanation, they realize it would not be enough and hence, attribute the Almighty’s blessings to this miracle. The film picks up in the second hour. No, there are no surprises or mind-boggling twists in store for the viewers but the screenplay comes across as a little taut. The chase, the action, and the way Raghu goes about striking at his enemies keep one’s interest alive. The film dips again in the pre-climax and never picks up again. The climax is amateurish and devoid of any shock value.
Vikram Bhatt’s direction is strictly okay. He fails to add much to an average screenplay (Shagufta Rafique). There are a few lines that are clap-worthy but most of the dialogue (Shagufta Rafique) consists of cheesy lines that make you cringe. The music is ordinary what with the love songs composed by Ankit Tiwari and Jeet Ganguly seem interchangeable as they sound similar. The title track and the dance number are nothing to write home about either. The background score (Raju Singh) is marginally better. Praveen Bhatt’s camera work is decent. The film has been shot in 3D and the effects are fairly good. The special effects seem good in certain sequences but look tacky at places.
One could see that Emraan Hashmi shot this film sporadically, with long intervals in between. Picture this – in one frame he looks clean-shaven and immediately in the next frame (in the same sequence) he is seen to be sporting a beard. Then, he is back with a clean-shaven look and so on. The continuity issues turn out to be a bummer. The actor is back and he does not disappoint. He handles the romantic moments well and is convincing in the dramatic portions and action sequences. Amyra Dastur looks pretty but does not perform well. She switches from being expressionless to hamming her away through intense scenes. Arunoday Singh commands a good screen presence and acts well. Tanmay Bhat delivers a sincere performance as Emraan’s friend and confidante. Shruti Ulfat suffers from an ill-written role but registers her presence. Nora Fatehi and Gurmeet Choudhary infuse life in a tuneless dance number with their energetic dance.
Mr. X is a film that tries to warm up Emraan Hashmi again to his loyal audience base. Emraan’s last successful film ‘Raaz 3’ was a decent entertainer. Unfortunately, one cannot say the same about this film. The film’s weak script is its biggest drawback. Even though there is an invisible man involved here, the plot of the film is routine and does not offer anything that one has not seen before.
Rating: 2/5
