Eros International and Next Gen Films’ 3G (A) is a psychological thriller with the horror element thrown in in good measure. Sam (Neil Nitin Mukesh) and his girlfriend, Sheena (Sonal Chauhan), are holidaying in Fiji Islands. Sam loses his cell phone and, therefore, buys a 3G-enabled secondhand cell phone in Fiji. But strange things start happening after he buys the phone.
He starts receiving phone calls from an unknown number and he sees the video clip of a girl in distress on his phone screen when he answers the calls. Also, he starts behaving weirdly – sometimes, attempting to kill Sheena, sometimes attempting to kill himself. He and Sheena soon realise, the secondhand phone is the problem point. Much as they try to get rid of the phone, including by throwing it into the sea and breaking it to bits, the phone somehow comes back to them.
The two now set out to solve the mystery of the phone. They learn that the girl in distress is Chaima alias Jasmine (Mrinalini Sharma). They have to meet several people in their quest to reach to the root of the strange happenings. Among the people they meet are Jaden (Vishaarad), the mobile phone shopkeeper (Shailesh Singh), Max (Conrad Thorpe), Chaima’s mother (Vanah Kelly), Brandy (Devraj Das), a tattoo artist (Wasim Ahmad), Father Patterson (Shantanu Ray Chhibber), Mong (Asheesh Kapur), Mong’s mother (Sushila Ramesh), a professor (Amol Rohitesh Lal) and Diana (Kaajal Vashisht in a special appearance), the hostess of the club in which Chaima used to work. Meanwhile, Sam has also asked his friend, Joe (Prithviraj Chaudhary), to gather information about Chaima.
It turns out that Mong was madly in love with Chaima but had realised, to his horror one day, that she was a porn girl who had cheated on him and had slept with a number of clients. Mong, an exceptionally bright man who was working on a project to connect with the dead by using the cell phone, was devastated on learning the truth about Chaima. He had killed Chaima and had then committed suicide. Through the secondhand cell phone, the dead Mong was seeking revenge on many others.
What was Sam’s connection with the pornography scandal? Why was the cell phone affecting him so much?
Sheershak Anand and Shantanu Ray Chhibber’s story and screenplay are too confusing for the common viewers to understand. The drama is also so long-winding and moves so slowly that the audience loses patience quite early on. Showing Sam crying at several points in the first half will irritate the viewers more than scaring them. Also, since so much is unexplained as the drama unfolds and is explained only towards the end, the incidents cease to involve the viewers. Why Sam and Sheena don’t take the help of the police or the psychiatrist has not been explained. Why they don’t just leave Fiji and return to India is also never explained. In fact, Sheena’s brave disposition after Sam has tried to kill her and after she has seen him behave in a ridiculously weird manner looks silly, to say the least.
After a point of time, the horror scenes turn out to be unintentionally funny because of which the audience further disconnects from the drama. In short, the story and screenplay are quite weird and will fail to interest the audience. The drama, especially after interval, is just too long. One more minus point is that Sam and Sheena behave quite weirdly at several places: after getting the fright of their lives, they are shown to be super-cool right in the next scene. Similarly, Jaden is seen to be willingly and happily revealing all to Sam minutes after Sam has beaten him black and blue. Sumit Saxena’s dialogues are routine.
The film abounds in sex and skin show – and these will hold appeal for the masses to some extent. However, the masses will find it difficult to comprehend the psychological drama.
Even the performances are quite dull. Neil Nitin Mukesh is ill at ease, perhaps, because his character does anything anytime. Sonal Chauhan is ordinary. She, however, exposes her anatomy freely. Mrinalini Sharma acts ably. Asheesh Kapur is also good. Prithviraj Chaudhary, Kaajal Vashisht (special appearance), Shailesh Singh, Vishaarad, Conrad Thorpe, Vanah Kelly, Devraj Das, Wasim Ahmad, Shantanu Ray Chhibber, Amol Rohitesh Lal, Sushila Ramesh, Varsha and Kayaan S. Contractor hardly add anything to the dull drama.
Sheershak Anand and Shantanu Ray Chhibber’s direction is weak even if one were to make concessions for the fact that this is their maiden attempt at direction. Mithoon’s music comprises two good songs, ‘Kaise bataaoon’ and ‘Khalbali’. Their lyrics (Mithun for ‘Kaise bataaoon’ and Shelle for ‘Khalbali’) are good. The other song, ‘Bulbuliya’, like ‘Khalbali’, comes at an odd time and breaks the flow of the story. Adil Shaikh’s choreography is routine. Amar Mohile’s background music is hackneyed. Keiko Nakahara’s cinematography is beautiful like the foreign locations. Sets are okay. Mehmood Akbar Bakshi’s action scenes are commonplace. Editing (Sanjay Sharma) is weak.
On the whole, ample sex and skin show, two songs and eye-filling locations are the plus points of an otherwise dull and drab 3G which will, therefore, not be able to do much at the box-office. Of course, the film has been heavily subsidised by the Fiji government and it will, therefore, not entail much loss.
Released on 15-3-’13 at Regal (daily 2 shows), Inox (daily 5 shows), New Excelsior (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay by Eros International. Publicity: good. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was low everywhere.