Charles Sobhraj was this charming Frenchman whose victims were charmed by him before they got conned or killed. After a killing spree in Southeast Asia (remember Bikini killer?), he came to and was arrested in India. He made himself a cosy nook in Tihar jail (through across the board bribery) and was passing his sentence in peace when he broke into national consciousness with a daring jailbreak. He drugged pretty much the entire jail staff and literally walked out of jail free. Even before the nation could pick up their collective jaw from the floor, he was recaptured and brought back to prison, where he spent an extended sentence for the jailbreak.
I remember reading about his jailbreak and past escapades with breathless excitement when it happened in 1986. I still remember the name of the police officer who arrested him (Madhukar Zende) and an approximation of the caputre (he walked up to Sobhraj and said "Hello, Charles"). This was our generation's first brush with a glamourous criminal, the kind we'd soon encounter in Sidney Sheldon's books. That he killed, a string of innocent tourists for their money in SE Asia and was attempting to do the same in India, seemed inconsequential to the cruel teenage mind.
Main Aur Charles, therefore, sounded like a very interesting premise to me. A smooth operator silently killing through the swinging 1970s and 1980s was mouthwatering, to say the least. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't redeem its promise and plods slowly - or maybe, uneventfully - through the sequence of events.
His escape from Thailand was far from dramatic and his jailbreak even less so. There are sexy women falling all over him and yet, there is no erotic charge in any of the scenes. It's a shame because the period is meticulously created through the clothes, cars, music, locations and so on. Randeep Hooda delivers a great performance both in looks (where his eyes and skin tone are altered) and diction (where he puts on a French accent). Despite all that, I was dropping off every once in a while during the movie.
The only thing that worked was the remix of Jab chhaye mera jadoo (the Lootmaar song) that becomes one of the rare RD Burman compositions that improved on remixing. Here, listen to both the original and the remix.
I remember reading about his jailbreak and past escapades with breathless excitement when it happened in 1986. I still remember the name of the police officer who arrested him (Madhukar Zende) and an approximation of the caputre (he walked up to Sobhraj and said "Hello, Charles"). This was our generation's first brush with a glamourous criminal, the kind we'd soon encounter in Sidney Sheldon's books. That he killed, a string of innocent tourists for their money in SE Asia and was attempting to do the same in India, seemed inconsequential to the cruel teenage mind.
Main Aur Charles, therefore, sounded like a very interesting premise to me. A smooth operator silently killing through the swinging 1970s and 1980s was mouthwatering, to say the least. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't redeem its promise and plods slowly - or maybe, uneventfully - through the sequence of events.
His escape from Thailand was far from dramatic and his jailbreak even less so. There are sexy women falling all over him and yet, there is no erotic charge in any of the scenes. It's a shame because the period is meticulously created through the clothes, cars, music, locations and so on. Randeep Hooda delivers a great performance both in looks (where his eyes and skin tone are altered) and diction (where he puts on a French accent). Despite all that, I was dropping off every once in a while during the movie.
The only thing that worked was the remix of Jab chhaye mera jadoo (the Lootmaar song) that becomes one of the rare RD Burman compositions that improved on remixing. Here, listen to both the original and the remix.
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