Movie Review

Rating :

Verdict : The suspense drama is bright, bouncy, believable and entertaining _________________________________________________________________

After his back to back flop outings as an actor, singer and music director, Himesh Reshamiya is back with another venture called ‘The Xpose’, which is Directed by Ananath Mahadevan. 

Director Ananath Mahadevan is not known to err in his execution of the plot, no matter how trivial it may appear on paper. He goes at the whodunit with a relish 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. The movie also stars Irrfan Khan, Sonali Raut, Zoya Afroz and Yo Yo Honey Singh. The film has hit the screens today. Let’s see how it turns out to be…

The story of The Xpose revolves around the Bollywood industry of the 60s. Ravi Kumar (Himesh Reshamiya), who hails from North India, but is a superstar down South. He has a penchant for gung-ho dialogue baazi. And he prefers to adlib swashbuckling lines during film shoots. He has an interesting back story too. He used to be a police inspector before he turned an actor (which is exactly how Raaj Kumar’s real-life story turned out). There on, Himesh’s character deviates into greyer shades. He shoots a Minister in the lock up and is thrown out of the force. After which he joins the movies but still retains his edgy disposition. The Xposé has many subliminal references to Hindi film legends. Writers Bunty Rathore, Jainesh Ejarder and Himesh Reshammiya have done a decent job digging up old stories. But then they’ve weaved it in a story that makes trashy Joginder movies seem like classics. 

Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan (who’s playing a key character in the film, who’s also a movie director) tries his level best to give this film noir treatment. So The Xposé has a definite visual style but no content. The absurdly demented climax belongs in a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not vault. 

This film has Himesh and Honey Singh. There’s no reason the music shouldn’t work. The tunes are catchy (some are a tad, too familiar), the lyrics seem fun, they’ve shot the songs in exotic locations and in the grandest of fashion. But they still don’t entertain, enough. The screenplay randomly veers to songs in the most unprofessional manner.

And then you have great consistency in bad acting. Himesh’s performance is marginally better than his previous attempts, but it’s still too wooden to be true. Talk about stiffness in front of the camera. Newbies Zoya Afroz and Sonali Raut are no better than pretty faces. And Ananth Mahadevan, Honey Singh, Jessy Randhawa and Rajesh Sharma show you the pitfalls of overacting. The only notable performance in the film comes from Adil Hussain, who outshines everyone, in a total screen presence of three minutes.

The Xposé has exposed a sad truth from our film industry. We have the ability to make really bad movies.


Watch the Song "Hai Apna Dil Toh Aawara" from film "The Xpose"