NGUPLUS

While on actors and aging, the film also features Bengali veteran Sabyasachi Chakrabarty, who memorably played Feluda in Sandip Rays films. True to form, in the one scene where Chakrabarty smokes, his cigarette of choice, like the famously loyal sleuth, is a Charminar.

Age -- and, indeed, time -- are important parts of director Ribhu Dasguptas narrative in his confoundingly titled thriller, and Bachchan is the ideal choice for the part of an inconsolable grandfather, doggedly desperate to find out about a long-ago kidnapping that led to his granddaughters death. The actor shuffles through both bewilderment and clarity, everything a struggle for his John Biswas, from starting a scooter to remembering the name of the soup hes making.

Hes terrific in the part, evocative and righteous and overreaching for the truth but alas, Dasgupta seems too smitten with Bachchan to get a move on and tell the story. A remake of the Korean thriller Montage, Te3n unfolds its dramatic plot -- too sluggishly -- but this isnt too bad until we hit the climax, after which the films makers are too obsessed with Bachchan (and his reactions to the climax, and its twist) to let the story work.

One of the most exasperating things about Hindi movies are their over-reliance on flashbacks, their need to spoon-feed audiences by reminding them of something they saw 10 minutes ago, and the last half-hour of Te3n goes on interminably, recapping the entire film as if to show us how clever theyve been. Tragically, however, they havent been clever at all. Its difficult not to predict the films twist, and -- the fundamental problem in films that hinge too critically on that massive twist -- when that doesnt fall into place, the whole house of cards collapses to the ground.