Baadshaho

He collects men with muscles and women with great bodies, and packs them off to the deserts of Rajasthan on the pretext of a thriller. But apart from loading the pack with guns, silly dialogues and twisted personalities, and investing in the celebrated Sunny Leone's raunchy moves along with a ginormous truck, Luthria forgets he needs a story to fit them all in. Instead, he obediently plays to the gallery and glorifies his macho men by parading them in slow-mo shots that are tuned to a blaring background score. High on macho-ism and low on logic or reason, Baadshaho unfortunately remains a BAD SHOW.

Luthria could have taken Baadshaho to a higher level. In addition to some compelling action, also on the plus side is the real-life mystery of the wealth that is intelligently handled; there are no filmy 'usual' resolves to the conflict, which again is a bold move. The boldest is how Luthria and Devgn give screen space for all - Vidyut Jamwal, for example; he often steals the scene. Every actor does justice to his/her roles. Stronger writing with less of the repetitive lines, firmer editing, and more realistic approach to the central narrative without the predictable invincibility of the protagonists could have made Baadshaho a more compelling film. For now, it is strictly time-pass.

'Baadshaho' is a typical B-Movie, with a A-list budget, director & cast. And to its luck, it succeeds in being a thoroughly watchable heist flick, that has its own share of pros and cons.

'Baadshaho' Synopsis: An Indian queen (Ileana D'Cruz) asks her bodyguard (Ajay Devgn) to steal back gold taken from her by the Indian government during The Emergency period in 1975, when she is arrested wrongfully.

'Baadshaho' is well-paced & all the stuff revolving around the heist, has moments of fun. Sure, the dialogue are cheesy & done for effect, the Writing is never super-solid (despite a few nice twists) & even has a rather weak climax. But, these minuses don't take away its share of pluses, that are its fast-pace, crackling characters & a genuinely sexy background score, that adds hugely to the narrative.

Rajat Arora's Screenplay has its ups and downs, but luckily, it never runs out of breath. The cheesy dialogue merit a special mention. Milan Luthria's Direction is fair. Cinematography & Editing are alright. Action-Sequences are decent, while The Music has interesting tunes.

Performance-Wise: Ajay Devgn is as usual - macho & committed. Emrran Hashmi does very well in a massy role. Vidyut Jammwal is strictly okay. Ileana D'Cruz is passable, while Esha Gupta has her moments. Sanjay Mishra is first-rate, yet again! Sharad Kelkar is wasted.

On the whole, 'Baadshaho' is a fair watch.

Yes, the film is over-wrought, melodramatic and designed as pulp fiction. But it's intermittently fun. Don't wear a microscopic lens, don't be over analytical and you'll definitely enjoy the flick.

Beyond literature,movies bear myth-making abilities. The medium is too recent to judge for its place in history. But we already have films like Mughal-e-Azam or Sholay that appear mythologies to rival epics in public consciousness. So,emergency, is one such chapter that entices us with the mystery. The subject is immediately exhilarating still. As is this film.

The character of Bhawani is beautifully sketched. The actor before you is Ajay Devgn. And here is what I personally feel about him. Very few actors in mainstream films manage a self-assured, under-stated swagger, convey so much silently, sometimes just with their glance and droopy eyes. It's a camera art. Sr. Bachchan saab has perfected it as the 'angry young man'. Devgn, you can tell, is his fine successor.

Luthria has managed to recreate eras that connect with audiences. This time his attempt to create the Rajasthan in the 70s is not perfect yet commendable. rightly recreates retro from the '70s. He focuses right on all the low angles of the shots; and trumpets for a background score; but most importantly in the sense of the big screen.His smart dialogue gives you a feel of living in that period. But once again, Luthria could have been much better.

Finally, all departments contribute in making this a watch worthy film (if not as memorable as OUTIM). I did have good time with friends and that what you care for at the end of the day.

So JHC is passe' and people won't know if a plot, characters and even dialogues are plagiarized from the King of Thrillers' novels? Not quite, sir. Because this film is a straight lift from JHC's novel, "The World in My Pocket."

Now this plot is given the make-over, with a strange mish-mash of 1970s flavor, Rajasthani locales and some pretty good action sequences. But since there is no central plot, the film is disjointed and the actors / actresses are wasted. A fleeting reference is made to the (late) maniacal politician, Sanjay Gandhi. For some strange reason, to grab a local (female) ruler's gold hoard, the army is called in, who are present from the first to the last frame with their incompetent presence. I thought it would be the job of the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax Department, or at least the local police? The latter are there, bumbling along, without any purpose.

The armored invincible van bearing the loot is of course, from JHC's masterpiece. I could not exactly understand Ajai Devgun's character in the film. Was he a personal body guard, or lover, or villager full of angst? We have Vidyut playing an OTP army major. One almost feels like slapping the character played by him. In real life, majors do not strut about in civvies, direct civil operations or argue with their COs. Or carry on clandestine affairs with royalty. Or maybe few do.. I can't say.

The indeterminate ending is good, because the film itself in indeterminate. The sandstorms have been portrayed nicely. Ileana looks good as usual. Not much is expected from her anywaz. The rest come and go without any purpose.

Certainly worth a watch. But a watch without expectations.

First of all most of the reviews here are fake, fake and fake.

Even kids movies have better stories and screenplays. The story may be related to an actual incident but rest of the movie is just a joke.

The plot is laughable and stupid with so many logical errors that I had to quit watching it part way through.

Action scenes are naive and dialogues are unrealistic. Fights and chases are unimpressive.

A big waste of time!