Writer: Janak

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Watch this if you liked: “Josh”, “Sivaji The Boss”, “Ghajini”

If you are missing the Southern Superstar Rajnikanth badly, then this is the movie you should watch.

Salman Khan plans Radhe, a brutal gangster who knows no mercy and works for cold hard cash. Everything starts to go awry when Radhe betrays his gang and joins a new one in town lead by Gani Bhai (Prakash Raj), under the support of another gang leader named Golden (Aseem Merchant). When Golden accidentally dies, Gani Bhai tries to leave town to head back North but soon he realises that there are bigger conspiracies surrounding him and even the cops lead by Ashraf Khan (Govind Namdeo) is waiting to catch him. In all of this, his only last hope seems to be Radhe.

Like the title of the film, Salman Khan is a wanted man in every scene of this film. Salman will be Salman and everyone knows why he is the crowd puller. His macho demeanour does not diminish. Ayesha Takia who plays Salman's love interest, looks better in recent films and does not disappoint either. Her chubby and bubbly presence with a slightly toned body will be eye candy to audience. Baddies like Mahesh Manjrekar, Aseem Merchant and Prakash Raj give a true impression of Indian gangsters. Their characters are quite believable in certain scenes. Veteran actor Vinod Khanna does not do much but his role does keep the pace strong until the very end.

Plot-wise, director Prabhu Deva (who also happens to be an Indian actor cum choreographer) needs to tighten his act. The movie plot is much copied from Southern movie "Pokirri" and surprisingly does not move much until the arrival of the heroine. However, thankfully the special effects are definitely over the roof in this movie. The fighting and shooting scenes are exaggerated in true Bollywood style. Cinematographers Nirav Shah and S Sriram provide a good backdrop of what we can call Gangster's Paradise.

The songs in "Wanted" could have been presented in a better way. Music duo Sajid Wajid who did many Salman Khan films in the past ("Partner" and "Hello Brother" to name two) does not live up to expectations. Every time a song kicks in, one feels as if we can't wait for the next scene. The only consolation comes from one track - "Dil Leke". The rest is are mere fillers for an album.

Overall, if you really want hard punches, gunfights, biceps, triceps and much more, then this is the movie for you.

Cinema Online, 23 September 2009