Director: Leena Yadav Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, R Madhavan, Shraddha Kapoor
Rating: 
Teen Patti Hindi Movie Review:
Its mathematics not magic’ says Amitabh Bachchan about his special prowess to predict cards and subsequently the winners in the game of flash. The reverse would have been more believable. Because in all probability and using all arithmetical permutations and combinations, the accuracy of his anticipation still seems to be an impractical achievement as per mathematical logic.
Of course to save you from a crash course in algebra, the crazy calculations are restricted only within the mastermind’s brains. And with this liberty, director Leena Yadav attempts to pull off a gamble that’s only partly successful.
Loosely on the lines of the Hollywood flick 21 , the makers substitute the MIT institute with its Bombay prototype – BIT and the game of Black Jack with the more popular Indian counterpart – Teen Patti (flash). Unfortunately what they don’t realize is that the summation of card counting in Black Jack (of 21 ) can’t be equated to the precision of probability in flash (in Teen Patti ).
Of course to save you from a crash course in algebra, the crazy calculations are restricted only within the mastermind’s brains. And with this liberty, director Leena Yadav attempts to pull off a gamble that’s only partly successful.
Loosely on the lines of the Hollywood flick 21 , the makers substitute the MIT institute with its Bombay prototype – BIT and the game of Black Jack with the more popular Indian counterpart – Teen Patti (flash). Unfortunately what they don’t realize is that the summation of card counting in Black Jack (of 21 ) can’t be equated to the precision of probability in flash (in Teen Patti ).
Story And Movie Analysis:
Venkat Subramaniam (Amitabh Bachchan) teaches mathematics at the university and is working on the theory of probability and randomness which is rejected and ridiculed by the faculty. Through some random experimentation he realizes that he can foresee cards through the application of his theory in the game of flash.
Another professor Shantanu (Madhavan) helps him in putting together a team of college students Aparna (Shraddha Kapoor), Sid Bajaj (Siddharth Kher), Bikram (Dhruv Ganesh) and Abbas (Vaibhav Talwar) through whom they enter the real world of gambling. Trained to communicate through unique body language, Venkat learns their cards on the gambling table and manipulates the game in their favour to win easy money. Soon the group’s greed goes up and the gamble turns big. But there’s trouble in paradise when they are blackmailed by an unknown caller.
After playing with words in her last film Shabd , director Leena Yadav attempt to play with numbers in Teen Patti . Ignoring the practicality of the gambling game, the film starts on an interesting note with decent buildup to the plot. Leena Yadav shows ‘flashes’ of brilliance in ‘dealing’ with the progression of the gambling racket from shady prohibited properties to elite classy parties. But with repetitive gambling episodes adding no new perspective to the film, the proceedings tend to get monotonous after a point.
Cameos by everyone from Jackie Shroff to Ajay Devgan are miserably misused. One expected some chemistry between Shakti Kapoor and daughter Shraddha Kapoor in the single scene that they share. But there’s zilch. Comparatively Mahesh Manjrekar is more amusing amongst the special appearances though he almost duplicates the look and act of the character he played in 99 .
But where the film primarily fails is in clicking as a suspense flick. To start with the extortionist’s identity doesn’t come as a surprise amidst half a dozen usual suspects. And the attempt to have an additional twist through a double-crosser is simply indigestible. Also the film loses on its scope of developing the internal tension between the six players on doubting each other as the betrayer like in Reservoir Dogs or Bachchan’s desi version Kaante .
Venkat Subramaniam (Amitabh Bachchan) teaches mathematics at the university and is working on the theory of probability and randomness which is rejected and ridiculed by the faculty. Through some random experimentation he realizes that he can foresee cards through the application of his theory in the game of flash.
Another professor Shantanu (Madhavan) helps him in putting together a team of college students Aparna (Shraddha Kapoor), Sid Bajaj (Siddharth Kher), Bikram (Dhruv Ganesh) and Abbas (Vaibhav Talwar) through whom they enter the real world of gambling. Trained to communicate through unique body language, Venkat learns their cards on the gambling table and manipulates the game in their favour to win easy money. Soon the group’s greed goes up and the gamble turns big. But there’s trouble in paradise when they are blackmailed by an unknown caller.
After playing with words in her last film Shabd , director Leena Yadav attempt to play with numbers in Teen Patti . Ignoring the practicality of the gambling game, the film starts on an interesting note with decent buildup to the plot. Leena Yadav shows ‘flashes’ of brilliance in ‘dealing’ with the progression of the gambling racket from shady prohibited properties to elite classy parties. But with repetitive gambling episodes adding no new perspective to the film, the proceedings tend to get monotonous after a point.
Cameos by everyone from Jackie Shroff to Ajay Devgan are miserably misused. One expected some chemistry between Shakti Kapoor and daughter Shraddha Kapoor in the single scene that they share. But there’s zilch. Comparatively Mahesh Manjrekar is more amusing amongst the special appearances though he almost duplicates the look and act of the character he played in 99 .
But where the film primarily fails is in clicking as a suspense flick. To start with the extortionist’s identity doesn’t come as a surprise amidst half a dozen usual suspects. And the attempt to have an additional twist through a double-crosser is simply indigestible. Also the film loses on its scope of developing the internal tension between the six players on doubting each other as the betrayer like in Reservoir Dogs or Bachchan’s desi version Kaante .
The Madhavan – Raima Sen romance track is so frail that the film could have clearly done without it. What (unintentionally) works as a bigger suspense in the film is Madhavan’s two-timing with a firang (Saira Mohan) that never comes across till she ditches him. The comic timing of the characters often fall flat and Yadav can’t let go of the tendency to add extreme dramatic intensity intermittently, which seems unneeded. Like in Shabd , the treatment goes abstract in certain scenes like when one of the team-members (Dhruv Ganesh) goes paranoid of flashing cameras.
Technically the film is well-handled with superior cinematography by Aseem Bajaj, decent art direction and apt costume designs by Ameira Punvan. Salim-Sulaiman’s music and background score could have been better.
Of the cast, Amitabh Bachchan is animated and dramatic throughout but still manages to be the ace of the pack. Madhavan qualifies as a close king with his restrained act. Shraddha Kapoor looks like a polished version of Priyanka Kothari but shows immense potential to be the queen someday. Dhruv Ganesh is decent but could go easy on his intensity and expressions. Siddharth Kher and Vaibhav Talwar are competent. One wonders why Mita Vashisht was employed for a single scene, redundant to the plot. Saira Mohan looks jaded. Raima Sen is wasted. Blame it on the deceiving trailers but one expected more power play between Ben Kingsley and Big B.
Final view:
Teen Patti ends up being the kind of gamble that’s no big deal.
Teen Patti ends up being the kind of gamble that’s no big deal.
