Despite its urbane look and visual sheen, Anant Mahadevan’s Aksar turns out to be an unimpressive movie.

‘Aksar’ is nothing more than an average thriller trying to offer packaged entertainment with a bit of sex, suspense and scandal. But nothing makes a dent.

The movie, starring Emraan Hashmi , Udita Goswami and Dino Morea , tells the tale of mind games between three people.

Ricky (Emraan) is a fashion photographer and a full-bloodied womanizer whose track record with girls and whose philandering ways are revealed at the movie’s outset.

Sheena (Udita Goswami) is a model cum actress who has a showdown with Ricky because he dumped her best friend Nisha (Tara Sharma) after flirting with her.

Three years later, Sheena is a married woman and Ricky is doing well with his photography. During an exhibition of his photographs, a London-based businessman named Rajveer or Raj (Dino Morea) makes a proposal to Ricky to have an affair with his wife who, by the way, happens to be Sheena. The truth is that Raj wants to get rid of his wife.

Propelled by his natural instinct, Ricky accepts the proposal and starts wooing Sheena. Gradually, Sheena falls for his charms. And then, according to the plan, Raj catches her red-handed making love with Ricky.

He accuses her of cheating on him. She as much shrugs off her husband’s accusation unapologetically and says ‘you cheat on me, I cheat on you’.

Perhaps the movie’s director Anant Mahadevan thought that the idea of a wife cheating and then realizing her guilt was outdated. So let her indulge in brazen adultery, for the sake of being different.

This is when the so-called ‘mind games’ come into play. Who is manipulating whom? Raj feels entangled in his own booby trap, Ricky is enjoying (and why not?) his episodes of seduction and Sheena is having her say.

But then, Mahadevan throws in a twist. One of the protagonists is murdered. And there is a camera that has captured the killing. Now, the movie suddenly changes track and becomes a whodunit.

‘Aksar’ falls short on many counts – it has below par direction, poor acting performances and a shoddy climax of the story. Indeed, Himesh Reshammiya’s music in the movie is like a gem on a rusted ring.

Perhaps Emraan Hashmi does not know how to enact anything else than playboy roles. Movie after movie we have seen him doing the same thing. Only the girls change.

Udita Goswami has a body that is several notches above her acting skills. And thankfully, for the heterosexual male viewers, the movie focuses more on her physical assets than her histrionic.

Dino Morea looks superfluously suave. His dialogue delivery leaves too much to be desired.

Anant Mahadevan has attempted a complex story in ‘Aksar’. But, despite a few moments of novelty, the movie’s story moves on a predictable path. The end is a letdown.