Is imitation the best form of appreciation? Do remakes guarantee box-office success? Definitely Not! The mediocre to poor box office results coupled with hallucination for remakes has only delivered blunders and the list gets longer with this poorly conceived flick.

The success of escapist cinema in films like 'Dhoom' and its sequel followed by the success of Hollywood's 'Ocean 11' may have encouraged heist thrillers. In fact, they were never out of fashion as such thrillers embarked with gloss and sheen in films like 'Apna Sapna Money Money' and 'Cash' with moderate to poor results.

Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan has so far been introspective about romantic stories and erotic thrillers but this time he tries to rejuvenate the vintage charm of 70's thriller through this remake. It's all together a different set of experiences but certainly not the finest attempt in recreating history through remakes.

'Victoria No. 203', a diamond heist thriller and an inspirational remake from the all-time hit with similar name comes almost unannounced with zero promotional and musical impact. It sounds quite simple and easy when the word "remake" reaches any producer's ears; it means a readymade script with guaranteed success.

The first major obstacle that these remakes confront is the lack of proper configuration among refined actors and the potential director that can make things work charismatically on the big screen. Shah Rukh Khan is the dominating star in Bollywood but even his charisma has failed to match with Amitabh Bachchan's indomitable stature in 'Don - the chase begins again'.

Similarly, this poorly baked remake proves too meek in comparison to the all-time super hit 'Victoria No. 203' (1972) in all departments. Brij Sadanah's blockbuster 'Victoria No. 203' had the fine teamwork of brilliant direction, tight screenplay, commendable acting performances and above all chartbusting music that lifted the spirit of the film in almost every frame. In 70's, the diamond heist thriller was an unexplored genre and with its remarkable treatment it made history.

The magical jodi (pair) of Ashok Kumar and Pran is still fresh in viewers' memory but this time it's a miscalculated gambit in pitching two veterans like Anupam Kher and Om Puri in their shoes. The worse part of the film is its below average humor quotient that decimates all its strengths.

Scripting and screenplay (Sanjiv Puri and Manoj Tyagi) are lifeless and there isn't a single comical element that evokes laughter in their chemistry. Anupam Kher's versatile acting skills prove futile when he is shouldered with lousy and faint-edged one-liners.

The actor still shows some potential through his effective body language but the outcome is sheer disaster. Om Puri is a complete miscast in the role of crook Rana and it clearly shows in his mumbled dialogue delivery, and his unimpressive facial expressions prove worthless in forming any sort of chemistry with Anupam Kher.

Debutante Sonia Mehra is no star material and she neither holds any grace or caliber to match into Saira Banu's chirpy and vivacious performance. Jimmy Shergill delivers another unimpressive solo performance and with such silly scripting at the helm, it ends up like a complete washout.

Preeti Jhangiani looks ravishing in her devilish role and her alluring looks are one of the strong aspects of the film. She still lacks the skills of a competent actress but her looks are mesmerizing and completely overdo all the actors. Tora Khasgir's action skill combined with her body language gives the film a confident start and makes her notable. But thereafter the film fumbles in almost every frame.

Anant Mahadevan's 'Victoria No 203' starts off with an exhibition of some of the unique and wonderful diamonds in the world. It's worth of more than 100 billions ( ?) is the object of attraction and desire for Bobby Bombata (Javed Jaffrey), a multi billionaire industrialist, his moll Devyani (Preeti Jhangiani), a hi-profile burglar Tora (Tora Khasgir), her brother Karan (Rajesh Khera), a criminal Ranjit (Kamal Sadanah), a diamond expert Jimmy (Jimmy Sheirgill). The story unfolds through the mindless adventures of two small crooks - Raja (Anupam Kher) and Rana (Om Puri).

In a hi-profile diamond burglary, Tora double crosses Bobby Bombatta and the gang. Tora is killed by Ranjeet but has diamond that rests in the lamp-post of "Victoria No. 203". She has a secret to tell to this brother Karan (Rajesh Khera) but even he is eliminated from the plot.

Rana and Raja steal a luxury car through Devyani carrying the dead body of Karan. They discover a key in his wig and the story culminates into diamond heist thriller. Poor Victoria driver Raman is arrested for Tora's murder, leaving behind his distressed daughter Sara (Sonia Mehra) with his responsibilities.

The poor girl disguises as man with her horse carriage Victoria No. 203 around the town for living. Jimmy (Jimmy Shergill), a police cop disguising as diamond specialist, is on the look out for these diamonds and bumps into Sarah's Victoria by chance. The predictable love story develops and finally ends up with run and chase for diamonds.

The climax of the film is amateurish and outlandish by all standards of filmmaking. It tries to be as hilarious as 'Andaz Apna Apna' but proves too incompetent to be termed as anything professional or commercially viable.

Bobby Bombatta's complete gang (almost every body in the star cast) ensembles in Mehboob Studio where director (Anant Mahadevan) and fight master (Sham Kaushal) are shooting for a Tamil film. The shooting of the film takes so many weird turns that all their plans get hampered . The configuration of events and thereafter the performances lack hilarious punches and so does the screenplay that never rises to the occasion.

Director Anant Mahadevan delivers one of his most forgettable works with 'Victoria No. 203' and by far an obituary for all remakes. Poor vision, bad choice of actors and colorless execution completely work against him. Viju Shah delivers his worst musical compositions and even revamped versions of super-hit tracks "Do Bechare" and "Thoda sa Thero" fails to bind audiences.

Action (Sham Kaushal) is the only bright aspect and spotlight of the film that works positively for the film. The action sequence where Tora Khasgir along with Javed Jaffery steals the diamond is a good inspirational lift from 70's hit 'Shalimar'.

Even Tora's fight sequences are remarkably handled and the scene where she introduces herself to Javed Jaffery is the high point.

'Victoria No 203' is another example where the concept of producing remakes misfires and it will be absurd to predict anything promising about its box-office results.