Susi Ganesh Productions Pvt. Ltd.’s Shortcut Romeo (UA) is the story of Suraj (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who uses shortcuts in life to achieve his goals. Fed up of Suraj, his parents send him away from Goa to Bombay to stay with his maternal uncle (Major Bikramjeet). In Bombay, Suraj shoots a video of a couple in a compromising position and soon learns that the young lady, Monica (Ameesha Patel), is in an extramarital relationship with the guy she is caught on camera. His name is Ashish (Bunty Grewal). Monica fears that if the video tape gets into the hands of her husband, Rahul (Rajesh Shringarpure), it would be catastrophic. Suraj blackmails Monica and ensures that she pays for a free holiday for him and his friends at Kenya.
In Kenya, Suraj meets Sherry (Puja Gupta) and he falls in love with her. Soon, it is revealed that Monica had planted people, including Sherry (whose real name is Radhika), in Kenya to interact with Suraj. Monica and Suraj keep playing a game of oneupmanship with each other as Monica also has her grip on Suraj. Meanwhile, Monica’s suspecting husband employs a private detective (Susi Ganesh) to track the person his wife is having an affair with.
What happens thereafter? Does Suraj hand over the video tape to Monica? Does Sherry/Radhika also love Suraj? Or is it a one-sided affair? Does Monica’s husband get to know about Ashish? Do Suraj and Sherry/Radhika get married?
The story, penned by Susi Ganesh, is juvenile and offers no novelty to the viewers. Even the screenplay, written by Susi Ganesh, goes on aimlessly. The most irritating part of the drama is the game of oneupmanship played by Monica and Suraj with one another. For Suraj to be trying to prove his over-smartness is still understandable but what is incomprehensible is that Monica should also play this game with the same gusto even though she doesn’t have the video tape in her possession. Given that she is so tense about the video tape being used by Suraj to blackmail her, she can never be in a frame of mind to tease Suraj even when she has an upper hand. Her action of planting people in Kenya so that Suraj gets into serious trouble does not seem justified if only because of incompetent scripting.
Another weak point in the screenplay is that the drama moves on just a couple of tracks and, therefore, gets repetitive after a point of time. Even the romantic track of Suraj and Sherry alias Radhika is quite weak. Dialogues, by Ilashree Goswami, are very ordinary.
Neil Nitin Mukesh does a routine job. Ameesha Patel is also average. Puja Gupta is okay. Rajesh Shringarpure gets limited scope and is fair. Bunty Grewal lends ordinary support. Vrajesh Hirjee has his comic moments. Susi Ganesh’s performance is ordinary. Major Bikramjeet is mechanical. Average support is lent by Meherzaan Mazda (as Aman), Errol Marks (as Patrao), Ashutosh Kaushik (as Nihal), Naveen Prabhakar (as Saurabh), Anuradha Chandan (as Suraj’s mother), Yasodhan Bal (as Suraj’s father), Kavita Wadhawan (as Suraj’s aunt), Neelima Parandekar (as Radhika’s mother), Mohit Saluja (as Suraj’s brother), Mumait Khan and others.
Susi Ganesh’s narrative style and direction are unable to add zing or excitement to the drama so that the film remains a dull fare with which the viewer is unable to connect. Himesh Reshammiya’s music is so-so. The ‘Pe pe pe’ song is quite appealing, not just for its tune but also for its eye-filling picturisation (by Vishnu Deva). Choreography of the other songs (by Raju Khan and Kalyan S.) is okay. Lyrics (by Sameer Anjaan, Shabbir Ahmed, Manoj Yadav and Sanjay Masoom) are okay. Background music (Bapi-Tutul and Gourov Dasgupta) is ordinary. Cinematography (by N.K. Ekhambram) is quite nice. Action scenes are well-composed by Silva Stunts and Kanal Kannan. Sets (Ratan Suryawanshi and Murali J. Sabat) are okay. Editing (Dilip Deo and Hardik Singh Reen) is nothing to shout about.
On the whole, Shortcut Romeo is a dull fare which fails to involve the audience. Flop.
Released on 21-6-’13 at Inox (daily 2 shows), Metro Big (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Mirchi Movies. Publicity: ordinary. Opening: weak. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.