Crook
File:Crook2.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mohit Suri
Produced by	Mukesh Bhatt
Story by	Ankur Tewari
Starring	Emraan Hashmi Neha Sharma Arjan Bajwa
Music by	Pritam
Distributed by	Vishesh Films
Release date(s)	8 October 2010 (2010-10-08)
Running time	121 minutes
Country	‹See Tfd› India
Language	Hindi
Budget	17 crore[1]

Crook is a 2010 Bollywood erotic thriller film popularly known by the title of It's Good to be Bad!. The film stars Emraan Hashmi and Neha Sharma in the lead. It is directed by Mohit Suri and produced by Mukesh Bhatt. It was released on 8 October 2010.^[2] Before the release, the film was given an 'A' certificate from the Indian Censor Board. Mostly shot in Australia and South Africa, the film is based on the controversy regarding the allegedly racial attacks on Indian students in Australia between 2007 and 2010.^[2][3]

Plot[link]

Jai Dixit (Emraan Hashmi), an youngster who sells pirated DVDs. One day, his uncle Joseph (Gulshan Grover) catches him and changes his personality completely, also changes his name to Suraj Bhardwaj and sends him off to Australia. At the airport, he meets Romi Latti and Suhani (Neha Sharma), a young girl who has come to pick Romi up. Suraj gets attracted to Suhani, and therefore he pretends to be Romi and leaves with Suhani. When Suhani finds out that he is not the real Romi, Suraj makes a run into happy-go-lucky Goldie's flat, where he starts living. While Suraj visits a supermarket, he finds that Australians are attacking the Muslim shopkeeper, and approaches them with a gun, when one of the attackers points out "See no evil, hear no evil!", Suraj runs away. Suraj hides in Nicole's car. She works in a strip club named 'Duke's Club'.

Suraj decides to be Suhani's brother- Samarth's (Arjan Bajwa) driver. When Samarth's car breaks down, Suraj instead of helping tells Romi to go fix his car so Suhani and Suraj can spent a night together. Soon enough, Romi is attacked by Australians, and all the Indians start to protest, and suddenly Samarath attacks on David (Suhani's friend) and police arrests Samarth. Suraj dint want to involve in the mess and leaves from the venue. In the night Nicole tells everything about his brother, who was involved in every attack against Indian and tells Suraj not to bother, he is safe as long he is with her. She also tells that Samarth will be attacked when he will be released from the police custody. Suraj leaves her and goes to the police station and saves Samarth. Suraj and Suhani were shocked when doctor tells them that Samarth is in coma. In between, police arrests one of the attacker. Suhani agrees to be the lone witness of the attack and goes to the police station. Before they process, Police gets information about Suraj's original identity as Jai Dixit. Before police gets to him, he departs from the police station. Suraj and Suhani leave for David's home. Samarth and Romi both kill few Australians and Indian couples and blow up a club. Suhani tells Suraj that Samarth kidnapped Nicole and asks him to save Nicole. Only that would stop all this violence. When Suraj reaches at Nicole Home, he gets hit by Samarth and learns Samarth's plan to murder Nicole and blame the murder on him. Suraj tries to make Samarth understand but he doesn't come out of his mental disability about the violence. He fires Suraj but Romi kills Samarth and saves Nicole. This event brings a new era of friendship between Indians and Australians.

Cast[link]

• Emraan Hashmi as Jai Dixit / Suraj Bharadwaj
• Neha Sharma as Suhani
• Arjan Bajwa as Samarth
• Gulshan Grover as Inspector Joseph
• Kavin Dave as Romi Latti
• Shella Alan as Nicole
• Francis Chouler as Russell
• Mashhoor Amrohi as Golde
• Smilie Suri as Sheena (Special Appearance)
• Ibsa Kekeba as himself

Soundtrack[link]

The film's soundtrack has been composed by Pritam and was released on 6 September 2010. Lyrics are penned by Kumaar.

Track listing[link]

Critical reception[link]

India[link]

Reception of the film in India has been mixed. One critic writes praises the music, writing: "this along with its already popular songs makes Crook a full on entertainment package that should not be missed when it releases all over on 8 October".^[4] Movie critic Taran Adarsh, criticized the film as a "half-hearted effort", but praises Mohit Suri's handling of the subject during the second hour of the film.^[5] Another critic praised the film for presenting "an altogether different approach to the situation and (the director) takes both the sides and speaks in favour of Indians and as well as the Australians.^[6]

Among negative reviews, a critic at India Today complained that the film racially vilifies Australians as:

Also that "it is badly directed and doesn't even have that one redeeming feature of all"^[7]

A critic at Rediff.com complained of a weak script and story line.^[8] A reviewer at bollyspice.com said that the film was "too insensitive" and "superficial".^[9]

Australia[link]

One media outlet in Australia voiced concern about the film, repeating Indian newspaper reviews that Crook portrayed Australia as "A country of ex-convicts. A country where they sleep with each other without marrying. A country where they don't take care of their families. Yes that's the sort of venom that's spewed against the Australians in Crook."^[10]

Among Australia's local Indian population, Gautam Gupta, spokesman for the Federation of Indian Students criticised the piece, saying: "They have performed their research so badly, it's shocking." He also complained that, far from helping the situation, that the film could help inflame tensions.^[11]

Director Mohit Suri responded to these charges, rejecting the claims of bias. The Hindustan Times quoted Suri saying:

Responding to allegations that the film is "poorly researched", Suri says, “I have just made a film. At 28, don’t expect me to have a cure to racism worldwide. I have just expressed my opinion."^[12]

Suri also complained that during the production of the film:

Awards and Nominations[link]

6th Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards

Nominated

• Apsara Award for Best Music - Pritam
• Apsara Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role - Arjan Bajwa

References[link]

External links[link]

• Crook at the Internet Movie Database