It's a known secret that the Bhatt camp doesn't care much about reviews, because it believes that their niche audience base doesn't care about it either. Will it remain the same after Emraan Hashmi's Mr X? Well, it's really very hard to say. Mr X is no Hollow Man, and Emraan Hashmi is definitely not a patch on Kevin Bacon, and in the process whatever is left is nothing short of a clueless, bizarre tale of an invisible kisser. And to be exposed to it for 125 minutes is, in one word, torture.

When you speak of an invisible hero in Bollywood, it is inevitable that you compare him with the adorable Arun Varma (Anil Kapoor) of Mr India. But it is not just the comparison that makes Mr X look like a poorer cousin. If Mr India defied logic (albeit with an endearing backdrop) when he turned invisible after strapping on a watch, Mr X goes a step ahead to defy logic, physics, chemistry and even geography.

Superhero films are the hardest to make because a filmmaker has to stretch the suspension of disbelief to the extreme. He has to give a plausible back story about how the superhero got his powers and also make the audience connect with the human being beneath the superpowers. Successful franchises like X Men or Batman show this constant struggle between the hero and his normal self. It's a subtle balance, which doesn't really translate sometimes in films - see all the recent Superman films for reference. Also, it helps if you throw in some humour as well - like Bruce Banner's self-depreciating humour in the Avengers films.

You know a movie has unlocked a new level of stupidity when a chemist on the screen blurts out, "Abhi tak iska test kisi choohe pe bhi nahi kiya gaya hai!" She is referring to a test tube filled with blue, anti-radiation fluid, which a bunch of lab rats were lucky to escape but Emraan Hashmi voluntarily consumes to combat his baldness-triggering burns. A minute of Hollow Man-like effects later, Hashmi is bestowed with the gift of selective invisibility.

"Democracy ka ek achha kaayda hai...jo sabse behtareen hai, unhe bhrasht kar do; baaki ki chinta chhodo," says Bharadwaj (Arunoday Singh) in Mr. X, while explaining a particularly devious plan of his. As relevant as that statement from the film might feel in the current day context, the film is hardly a crusade against injustice. It tries to straddle several spheres - the film is touted as a 3D sci-fi thriller - and manages some of that well.

He was Raghu (Emraan Hashmi) for a few reels until he ran into bad men who tried to knock him off after they got him to knock off the Chief Minister. He was saved by the idol of a deity in his pocket given to him by someone who he helped get a job as a computer hacker in the Anti-Terrorist Department. Incidentally, Raghu was the best officer in that department.

They keep saying, "Everything is fair in love and war". So hours before their marriage, anti-terror agent Mr Invisible to-be (Emraan Hashmi) and his colleague, Ms Fresh Face (Amyra Dastur) can get away with anything. In the opening sequence itself, Ms Fresh Face diffuses a bomb - she has nanoseconds to snap the correct wire. She is - you guessed it right - successful and saves lives.

A valiant officer who is part of an anti-terrorist squad transforms from a flesh-and-blood human to the mysterious Mr X. This is the one line premise on which hangs a two-and-a-half hour film. It may have sounded good on paper, but what a disaster it turns out to be.

Raghuram Rathod (Emraan Hashmi) is the Anti Terrorist Department's (ATD) best cop, who is in love with his colleague Siya (Amyra Dastur). On the day of his final assignment before marriage, he is charged with treason and the murder of the Chief Minister. Surviving a factory explosion, he returns as the invisible Mr. X.

The 'invisible man' concept has been done in Bollywood quite a few times before. Films like Vijay Bhatt's MR. X, Kishore Kumar starrer MR. X IN BOMBAY, Tusshar Kapoor starrer GAAYAB and the Shekhar Kapoor directed cult film MR. INDIA have been some of the films done in the past. This week's release is Vikram Bhatt's MR. X, a film that's again based on the 'invisible man'.

The fact that Bhatts know their audiences so well that they know, in spite of serving them a old done to death script with a invisibility cloak, their fans will watch it. The VFX used for the scenes that have Emraan changing his form are actually done neatly and the kids may enjoy seeing it. (P.S: Do not make the mistake of comparing it to Mr. India)

Unalloyed gobbledygook: two words are all that one needs to sum up Mr X. But Vikram Bhatt's flashy film (released also in 3D in case one is interested in third-degree torture) runs for over two hours but does not come up with even two-and-a-half scenes that can pass muster. Two fluffy lines of dialogue in the film stick out like sore thumbs and provide an inkling of the stale dynamics at work within its rickety structure.