'Acid Factory' - stylish action, but loses the plot

Film: 'Acid Factory'
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajpai, Fardeen Khan, Dino Morea, Aftab Shivdasani, Danny Denzongpa, Dia Mirza
Director: Suparn Varma.
By the time the chemically-zonked characters trapped in a padlocked factory realise who they are and what they are up to, we couldn't care less about the outcome of their violently vivacious life. Our disdainful indifference for the characters of 'Acid Factory' comes from the enforced cool quotient. Everyone behaves he was born in a posh retreat and has spent the majority of their lives driving in swanky Porsches.
But the actors lack the charisma to carry off the posh characters with elan.
These, however, aren't the only reasons why we give up on these lost souls. Mainly, the game is up because the film turns out to be an almost frame-by-frame copy of a Colombian film, Simon Brand's 'Unknown'.
Like many of the films produced by Sanjay Gupta, 'Acid Factory' seeks direct inspiration from a foreign source and adds a sheen of extra-ruggedness to the original proceedings. After a point, it doesn't matter what the original reference point is. These are people who've lost their bearings.
But director Suparn Varma remains pretty much in control, specially when the chase sequences take over. That's when the narrative really lets its hair down. The skidding wheels, exploding cars and crashing dreams of characters, who are as amoral as they are adventurous, signify the complete takeover of the film's universe by forces that rule the realm of video games.
Long before they became fashionable, Sanjay Gupta has been making video games on celluloid. The background music by Amar Mohile totally supports the vibrant rugged and macho visuals.
Women are objects of classy but lustful adoration in Gupta's scheme of things. Dia Mirza makes her athletic entry mid-way through the film when the characters locked up in an acid factory have just begun to figure out their raison d'etre. By then we've begun to lose our bearing vis-a-vis the askew plot.
To their credit the actors seem to exude an energy beyond that provided by the adrenaline-motivated visuals. Each characters comes across as an individual. Manoj Bajpayee is wacky, Aftab Shivdasani is restrained. Dino Morea is wry and Fardeen tries hard to come to terms with his amnesiac character.
Danny Denzongpa and Irrfan Khan remain peripheral, never quite entering the domain of the damned, remaining above the pyrotechnics even while indulging in them.
Technical qualities of 'Acid Factory' deserve a special mention. Sahil Kapoor's camera captures the bends of Cape Town effectively.
'Acid Factory' is overall a stylish action film.

Dia Mirza turns bad in 'Acid Factory'

Actress Dia Mirza, who has shed her girl next door image to don a glam diva look in her upcoming film 'Acid Factory' said she trained with action director Tinnu Verma to develop the agility her character required.

"An actor's body needs agility to carry off the action or stunt sequence convincingly. The body needs to be in optimum form. I trained to develop it before the film went on floors," Dia, whose character has shades of grey in the movie, told reporters here, unveiling the film's "first look" .

"Besides, it's good to be bad," she said adding her's is the only female character in the film which stars Danny, Fardeen Khan, Irrfan Khan, Aftab Shivdasani, Manoj Bajpayee and Dino Morea.

The film directed by Supran Verma and produced by Sanjay Gupta of White Feather Films will release worldwide on September 3.

Fardeen said he earlier worked with Supran in 'Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena' also produced by Sanjay Gupta.

"The film did not do well, but I feel actors, directors make a mature transition since the time they make their debuts," he said.

"In 'Acid Factory' actors needed to be in a certain frame of mind. They don't trust each other, but are still part of the same gang," he said.

The special bond shared by all the actors during the course of shooting in Ramoji Rao Film city in Hyderabad and South Africa is a testament of onscreen chemistry, he said.

We discovered each other as friends and people," the actor, looking dapper in a grey suit, said.

On repeating Supran after his failed box office debut, producer Sanjay said he does not look at the director's body of work but the energy level he possesses before signing them on for his banner.

"I like to do films which defy formula and does not go down the beaten path," he said.

Actor Irrfan Khan, fresh from the success of 'NewYork' seemed to be in a jovial mood when many wondered what he was doing in such a stylised Bollywood action flick.

"Supran told me that I will be holding guns and romancing Dia. I said I am in. But then, what about acting ?, and the director told me forget it for once," Irrfan joked.

Gulshan Grover was however, miffed with the producer that despite being an integral part of the film, he was missing from the promos and trailers.

"I would like to believe that it is part of marketing strategy," he said, to which Sanjay Gupta said Gulshan was a surprise package in the film.