Crook Movie Review | Movie Review of Crook

Crook scores due to its extreme topicality. Director Mohit Suri picks up a tale drawn straight from the current headlines and narrates it with characteristic grit and edginess. It's a familiar playground for Emraan Hashmi too as he gets to essay the role of the enfant terrible all over again. And that isn't rocket science for Emraan, since ever since he hit the marquee with his maniacal act in Murder, the actor has been antsy on screen in almost all his avatars. Even his last outing on screen was a reincarnation of the grimy Dawood-ish don in Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai.

In Crook, he re-essays a character he's already played in Mohit Suri's earlier film, Jannat. Emraan's cabbie-man act in Crook sees him going through the entire graph of a callous bad boy turning good. But before he can set aside his amoral ways, he must take the rough ride on the streets of Melbourne which are buzzing with an underground war between Indian and Aussie gangs, baying for each other's blood. The Indian students find a leader in the hot-headed Arjan Bajwa who is determined to uphold desi culture in phoren shores, even as the Australian goonda insists on protecting his native culture from the foreign onslaught.

It's here that Mohit presents a new take on the issue. He depicts both of them -- the Indian and the Australian -- as equally racist and argues for introspection on both sides. Of course, eventually, it's left to Emraan Hashmi to play mediator between the two warring camps and douse the fire that threatens to burn down the neighbourhood. Time for the crook to change colours and turn hero....

The film isn't a smooth ride altogether. Unlike Kalyug and Jannat, Mohit's earlier films, Crook begins on an incoherent note and takes time to get its focus right. Most of the first half of the film is spent -- and wasted -- in the romantic escapades of Emraan with the Indian student and the Australian night club dancer. The story picks up mostly in the second half and makes a meaningful noise: integrate or perish.

Watch it for its topicality and enjoy the upbeat audio track.