Sunday, April 1, 2018

Movie Review: 'Baaghi 2'

Ronnie (Tiger Shroff), a brokenhearted product of an unfulfilled love, is a serving army officer in Kashmir, making baddies eat his dust. A voice message from his moved-on and married ex is enough for him to pack his bags and come to Goa. She (Disha Patani) recounts the kidnapping of her daughter Rhea two months ago and calls him her only hope and help. He, obviously earnest to do his best, ventures out in no time.

Now the fractured screenplay shows its might and takes you for a ride. Goa is shown with its stereotypical shady shades with a barrage of characters doing their dirty bit. There is a Hyderabadi car dealer Usman Langda (Deepak Dobriyal) chooses to become his informal sidekick as he respects the army. Then there is a police department filled with idiosyncratic characters: the best of them is a selfie-loving cop named LSD (Randeep Hooda), a Chandigarh equivalent of Jack Sparrow transported to Goa. He reports to a kindly DIG Shergill (Manoj Bajpayee) who pulls strings whenever he feels and allows Ronnie to flaunt his built and jumps.

The verdict is clear. It's a no from me. Read on to know why I say that.

You are left literally as wandered as Tiger is in the movie merely because of the lazy script. Barring Hooda’s and Bajpayee’s almost all other characters are less than convincing either in impact or in existence. There are some really tolerance-testing patches like the one in which Ronnie bumps into his college friends, answers why he now keeps short hair, and then friends coldly move on after saying one clichéd line about him and Neha being that college-ki-shaan or whatever! Hold your breath; this whole setup was only to stab the audience with one lame song! One more rather insignificant instance when Usman utters the line in his last breath: Hyderabadi Biryani ke liye hi nahi, qurbani ke liye bhi jaane jaate hain! (or likewise) I would have left the hall right then had the popcorns weren’t fresh in the tub.

Some really good action sequence by Tiger and Hooda’s role in specific bring some respite and provide some oxygen to live through the movie. Disha fares good as a charmer in college and downcast outside. For Prateik Babbar it must have been a leftover shoot of Dum Maaro Dum with a bit twist in his role. Let’s move to the poster boy - Tiger. When in jungle, he transforms himself into a big daddy of Tarzan. He flings the goons by swinging and punching. He jumps from underwater like a whale to land kicks on them. He can break their calf bones even with tied hands. The list goes on and looks good on him to a point. The problem is to see him act. His expressions are like changes in the Fixed Deposit rates over a year – moving with minimal or no interest. He shrinks his default smile and gives a surprise look and shrinks further for an angry look. And lastly, songs – err, sorry, except for O Saathi by Atif which is really good, I took naps for mental restoration while others were on.

Look, it’s not the movie is bad. It’s the script, and the direction, and some acting are not up to the mark. That’s it.