DVD Review: My Name is Anthony Gonsalves 
By Joginder Tuteja, May 7, 2008 - 15:27 IST
MOVIE DETAILS
Cast: Nikhil Dwivedi, Amrita Rao, Pawan Malhotra, Javed Sheikh, Mukesh Tiwari, Daya Shanker Pandey, Anupam Kher and Mithun Chakraborty
Director: E Niwas
Producer: E Niwas
Music: Pritam
Lyrics: Sameer
THE FILM
Does it suffice to have just a good story idea? Is it enough to have a bunch of seasoned actors performing their best with a newcomer ensuring that he does well to enact his character well? Can a director be content with packaging his film with some well narrated scenes that do succeed in entertaining the audience at number of places?
Answer to all the questions as above is - 'Not Really'!
That's because apart from a good story, decent execution and competent act, a film is also required to tell the audience what it is all about! And in current times, this has to happen 'before' the release of the film rather than 'after' it!
This is precisely THE area where My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves suffered the most i.e. letting the audience know what story it is trying to tell. To put it brutally, the film suffered in a major way since the right message was never conveyed. One set of promos indicated that the film could be a comedy, second featured on the escapades of Anthony, third gave a hint of an underworld saga in the offering and the worst of all, the film's title didn't convey anything at all!
E Niwas is in full form in sequences depicting the lives of gangsters and what goes behind the curtains. He refrains from blood shed but succeeds in letting his audience know about the inner turmoil of Anthony and the people around him - Pawan Malhotra (excellent once again after Black Friday), Mukesh Tiwari (reliable as ever, though in a short role), Daya Shanker Pandey (decent) and Anupam Kher (Tezaab revisited). Javed Sheikh as a cop on the trail of his colleague's murderers is excellent in a couple of powerful scenes he gets and one wonders why isn't he seen more in Hindi cinema?
However, it is a rather below average climax of the film which kills the impact created 40-50 minutes prior to that. It is so predictable and so hurriedly shot that it appears E Niwas wanted to somehow bring the film to an end. Frankly, the kind of build up till the climax deserved a better culmination to the plot but an overall 'filmy' approach leads to disappointment. Also, the sequences where Anthony is shown to be struggling in his endeavor to be an actor are a big yawn. Neither does his interaction with Amrita Rao (who plays an Assistant Director) works nor do his supposedly comic sequences with his drunkard friend (D Santosh).
Coming to the film's strength, the basic premise of reel life Julius Ceaser story (Anthony is short listed as a hero for a film adapted from Julius Ceaser) integrated with the real life acquaintances of Anthony, is narrated quite well. In incompetent hands it must have become confusing but those who are even slightly familiar with Shakespeare's classic would be able to draw parallels. In fact, this is what works in favor of the graph of My Name is Anthony Gonsalves constantly going up in spite of a rather slow and 'where are we actually heading for' kind of a start.
PACKAGING
The film comes in a standard local plastic case with an ordinary 70s style cover layout. Since the DVD comes on Moser Baer, don't expect any fancy packaging.
DURATION
The film comes in a single DVD pack with the film's duration being 142 minutes.
SPECIAL FEATURES
The DVD doesn't come with any special features.
TECHNICAL DETAILS
- My Name is Anthony Gonsalves is one of those rare films which does not come in a 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation. In layman terms, the film comes in a regular format (with thick top and bottom stripes) which is associated with VCD format. Call it a coincidence but Amrita Rao's Vivah had arrived in a similar format as well.
- Subtitles in English
- Dolby Digital 5.1 and Stereo
PRICE
Rs. 49/=
CONCLUSION
Frankly speaking, after watching the film one feels sorry for debutant Nikhil Dwivedi and director E Niwas since the film is not a bad watch at all. Even though it qualifies as one of the Top-3 biggest failures of 2008 so far, it is far from being one of the worst films that we have seen this year. Of course, it is not a flawless film by any means but it does have its moments, especially the ones where the underworld angle comes in. A decent one time watch which can be switched off 10 minutes before the end credits start rolling!
Rating: **
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