Director: Prabhu Dheva
Cast: Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia, Mahesh Manjrekar, Prakash Raj
Rating: ***

Radhe (Salman Khan) is a hardcoregangster who calmly kills anyone for money. He reels around aimlessly (withsome real life friends) and by the end of first reel, falls in love at first sightwith Janhvi (Ayesha Takia). A lecherous cop Talpade (Mahesh Manjrekar) has aneye on Janhvi. Meanwhile Radhe’s funny boss Gani (Prakash Raj) who operatesfrom abroad comes down to India. Then there is a customary conspiracy toassassinate the minister at a public event. But before that can transpire thebad man is butchered.

Prabhudheva’s passion for choreography comes live onscreen as four dancedirectors (Raju Sundaram, Vaibhavi Merchant, Rajiv Surti) make Salman groovelike never before. Unfortunately the vibrant choreography isn’t complementedwith equally compelling music by Sajid-Wajid. Also too many songs interrupt theflow of the film, some of which could have been easily prevented.

The romance track running parallel to the primary plot has its charming momentsbut could have been shorter esp. in the second half. Shiraz Ahmed balances theforceful action by interlacing some light-hearted lines and scenes in thescreenplay. Everyone from the comedian, hero and even the villain contribute tohumour in their own way through decent comic timings.

Nevertheless, Salman Khan alone makes Wanted a worth watch. He is fresh, fitand in form, looking smashingly super-cool like never before. Despite thehardcore action image, his face exudes an innocent charm. He dances with newvigour, kicks serious butt and kills ruthlessly. Ayesha Takia is cute andcharming. Mahesh Manjrekar as the lusting and spiteful cop makes you hate everybit of his character. Prakash Raj is funny as international don Gani yet hischaracter is not ridiculed down to a caricature. Vinod Khanna doesn’t get scopebeyond one sequence.

The good part of Wanted is that it isn’t pretentious and delivers what itpromises – time-pass popcorn entertainment.

There are times when you care a damn about nutrition and want to indulge insome lip-smacking junk food. Wanted is just that recipe. Never mind some extracalories! Try watching it in a single screen – the cheese melts faster there.