the year of the rip-off

Finally more is heard about the produced-by-and-starring Sohail Khan flick imaginatively called Fight Club. Obviously, the first thing that comes to mind is: is this a copy of the Fincher classic? [notes from a repeat viewing]. Well, aside from the existence of fight clubs (origin back-story unknown, but there are two gangs, one in Bombay and the other in Delhi), there's also the strong similarity between the way the title is presented. The desii take is packed with specimens of processed wood: Sohail Khan, Zayed Khan, Ashish Chaudhary, Riteish Deshmukh, Dino Morea, Suniel Shetty, Ashmit Patel, Rahul Dev and Yash Tonk. And in compliance with Bollywood regulations ('thou must have adequate feminine presence'), we also have diet turkey slices Diya Mirza, Neha Dhupia and Amrita Arora.

The promo doesn't reveal as much as the one for Zinda did. But there's the egregious line "Everyone has their issues ... but it can be sorted out". That 'it' should be a 'they', but who cares? The IndiaFM reviewer fellates the film merrily, calling these lines ruthless (well, I am inclined to agree), and even notes that in a unique way, uses the youth brigade of Bollywood to its advantage. And it makes me wonder ...

The first rule of Fight Club is that there are no rules, this film says. Well, they tried to change the rule, but it's hard to shake off the sinking feeling that we're getting another addition to the ever-growing list that includes, among others, Zinda, Kyon Ki..., Garam Masala [more about these two], Chocolate, Ek Ajnabee [last rant], Kalyug (Dastak or 8MM, you choose), Dansh/Siskiyaan, usw.