Wazir - Bollywood thriller with chess

Wazir - Official Trailer

Official poster of the film

The Guardian published a review on the film, highlighting typical Bollywood weaknesses, but also its strengths, concluding that it is 'compelling viewing' and 'fun to watch'

Around the turn of the millennium, the venerable Indian writer-director-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra was set to make his Hollywood debut with Chess – nothing to do with the musical, but a self-penned thriller about a traumatised cop that circled the studios with names such as Dustin Hoffman attached. The vagaries of 21st-century production meant Chopra had to wait until last year’s Broken Horses to take his American bow, but traces of Chess have apparently persisted into Wazir. Delegated to emerging director Bejoy Nambiar, this plan B arrives bearing the Big B: Amitabh Bachchan, who collaborated with Chopra on 2007’s fine Eklavya, assumes the chewy character part Hoffman would surely have been eyeing.

Rookish grandmaster … Amitabh Bachchan in Wazir

(...)

And there’s another colourful part for the increasingly prominent Neil Nitin Mukesh (Prem Ratan Dhan Payo) as a cackling sociopath who willingly introduces himself as The Queen. (Any American version would have had to do a lot of explaining around him.)

Click for complete review

Link to IMDB film page