Tera Intezaar movie review: Sunny Leone-Arbaaz Khan's messy mystery will leave you floundering

A man in a blue, another man in a shiny mustard suit, a girl in a flowery dress and a third man in a black suit, stride into an opulent house and marvel at some paintings. This is the kind of art you look at curiously as you walk along a streetside gallery. But these four characters seem impressed. “Awesome”, “Lajawab”, “Kya mast hai”, “Fantastic”, they exclaim in turn. And then before they can run out of the house with the large canvases, they are submerged and trapped in one of the paintings, drowning in clear blue waters. As they are floundering, man in mustard suit (Aarya Babbar) sees a boat and shouts, “Boat”! I don’t think my brain cells have died quicker, and the ones that lived are unwilling to forgive me! [caption id=“attachment_4236789” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Sunny Leone and Arbaaz Khan in a still from Tera Intezaar[/caption] For the remaining one hour and 40 minutes, there is no flotation device that can save the viewer from this absurd story. A man named Veer (Arbaaz Khan) paints a woman from imagination. On his first chance meeting with Rounak (Sunny Leone) he shows her an image of her portrait and she’s smitten. Surprisingly her first instinct isn’t “stalker alert”. But then are logic, reason and a screenplay needed when you have Sunny Leone and Arbaaz Khan headlining your film? Credit to director Rajeev Walia, though, for waiting a whole 30 minutes before using Leone’s first sexy shot. Till then we see Leone as Rounak, beside herself with anguish as she is searching all over for her missing Veer (Arbaaz Khan). In the meanwhile the foursome is running around a forest trying to find their way to safety. The overdressed foursome is not just a collective of the worst actors in the world, but they are also some bargain basement art dealers who do a shabby job of trying to steal Veer’s paintings before they are attacked by the canvases. One by one they meet a tragic end. The screenplay goes from past to present and tries to keep you guessing as to what happened to Veer. The clues are there, and here’s a tip – there’s a big hint in Arbaaz’s yellow sweater (no more spoilers for those brave Khan and Leone fans who might have booked their tickets). So, there are haunted paintings, missing people, a fraught art gallerist and a medium (Sudha Chandran) who can see into the past and present. Rounak is introduced to the medium by her sister and brother-in-law, Hasmukh — who is handed award-winning dialogue like “Airport main — I, myself and Roopa. Coming to India jaldi se. Chalo India jaldi se.” (Dialogue credit: Raajeev Walia and Anwar Khan). Dotted with one forgettable song after another, mostly depicting Veer and Rounak’s love story, Tera Intezaar is based on a story by Anwar Khan, with screenplay, editing and direction by Rajeev Walia. Arya Babbar is on his own trip and performing in a different movie genre altogether. Sunny Leone works hard to show she’s got acting skills in a film where the only performer who can trump her is Sudha Chandran. The chemistry between Leone and Khan is as palpable as an ice cube on a frozen lake. If you last till the end of this messy mystery, then be prepared for a twist in the tale, unless you were paying attention to the yellow sweater/ shirt and a long distance call?