Obsession has a second name and it is ...Tashan!

Baba demanded I write a post on Tashan, my most anticipated Bollywood movie perhaps ever, as I seem to be the ultimate authority on all things Sakshay. The trailer and some teaser wallpapers are available at the YRF website, should you want to check out what the big deal is.

Most of you have probably already read my Sakshay "manifesto" and thus know what's what in the world of Saif-Akshay wonders.

I love them. I love them so, so, so much.

But I'm a realist. It's a YRF action film directed and written by the very person who wrote the Dhoom movies. Yes, because Dhoom films were so well-known for their clever scripts, their observant social commentary and their layered performances. I have nothing against Vijay Krishna Acharya and I'm sure he was plenty of vision as a director but those credentials don't really tell much. However, to his defence he also scripted dialogues for Mani Ratnam's Guru and the delightful (but very Hinglish) romcom Pyaar ke side effects.

So even if these things do not speak for Tashan or its success, perhaps the wildly delicious-looking little trailer does. There's the rugged, badass Akshay, the ice-cool Saif, Kareena looking ready to blow the place up and ask questions later and Anil, who's cool despite the fact animal prints never are and never will be. There is a shiny gun and an orgasmic shot of bullet shells hitting sand. All in all, the trailer makes sure we know exactly what to expect from the film; a violent, glorious 100% commercial action spectacle where logic will most likely take the back seat while the bullets fly left and right. Think Dhoom with less bikes, more Sakshay? Oh yeah, baby.

There were news of Kareena shooting a bikini song scene for this movie. Was I surprised? Not in the least.

I keep telling people this is the best movie of 2008. In fact, I've sort of been saying this since I first heard the news way back in late 2006. I may have also used the phrase "best movie ever". I may have also subliminally lead other people to using the same phrase. I hope everybody understands that this doesn't mean Tashan will be a a good movie.

The thing you should know about Sakshay is that they haven't done a single honest good movie. You have good Sakshay movies (and bad ones), but you don't have good Sakshay movies. The distinction is very important because it puts this movie to perspective. Sakshay has previously been cheesy, unintentionally amusing, vaguely homoerotic and undeniably entertaining. Sakshay has previously been 90's. Now Sakshay is put in this movie that is sleek and cool, 2000's Bollywood with all those Western movie influences, all that Hinglish. It's a very different environment, and it'll definitely give us a different kind of Sakshay chemistry, dynamic.

That's what is going to make Tashan the best movie ever. (Unless the director hates me and makes sure they don't have a single scene together.) What it is otherwise, as a movie is sort of secondary to me - more or less unimportant. The stats look good, though. The soundtrack is supposed to be rock-influenced, it's by Vishal-Shekhar and well, just look at the trailer.

I've only once previously followed a movie's release this closely and that was the Aamir-Kajol combination in Fanaa, which I ended up adoring despite flaws. I hope the obsession ends as satisfyingly this time.