Boss

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK) Rating: 3/5 stars

Harmless fun. Thankfully the fun is not numbed down by being all too brainless - just the sporadic instance here and there, mostly interspersed within the action scenes. Akshay Kumar enjoys himself in a role he can sleep through and he succeeds in involving the audience in his revelry. We even get to see him doing some real action and stunts after a long time.

Shiv Pandit just passes muster, while Aditi Rao Hydari literally has nothing to do. Sadly Mithun forgot his acting chops at home, and Danny's acting chops are criminally underutilized. But above all, the real scene stealer from the very first frame he enters till the last is Ronit Roy, who essays his first complete negative role with sublime malevolence.

It's a good masala movie after a long time. basically, the movie is all about the relationship of father and son. After a long time this relationship is focused. It's overall paisa vasool movie. if you like this type of masala entertainment, you will enjoy a lot.songs, performance of the cast,dialogues,comedy and action are plus point of this movie.impressive performance by Ronit Roy. some innovative scenes like jogging truck and others are very good.

Direction: Good. Music : Good. Story & screenplay: avg. Performance: Ronit - Roy best. Akshay - as usual good. Mithun, Denny - good. Shiv, Aditi - avg.

Being once again a South remake of a Malayalam Hit POKKIRI RAJA (2010), the fact gets proved repeatedly that the Regional Cinema in India is much ahead than the Hindi Film Industry by miles, when it comes to pure commercial, action packed entertainers. Strengthening the fact, BOSS begins impressively with an action packed sequence featuring Danny and the new kid (playing the young Akshay). The start sets the mood rightly but then takes too much time to introduce the real BOSS. However once Akshay enters the screen after almost 30 minutes like a storm, the pace returns back and his entry (with the credits) just remind you the old school pattern followed by Manmohan Desai and Subhash Ghai, who also preferred bringing in their Hero after a while with a killer sequence.

Having a seen before yet engaging story to tell, BOSS offers a fine build up in its initial hour with enough material for the single screen regions full of comedy, action, emotion and music. The interesting clashes between the characters keep the energy moving and the viewers are just eager to see Akshay meeting the cunning Police officer Ronit Roy in the next scenes.

Now usually a Hindi film drops hugely post intermission which is thankfully not the case with BOSS. The film keeps offering many well written and entertaining sequences in its second half which basically becomes its real winning card in the end. Actually many impressive sequences in the film don't let you rate it as an average film and that is the reason it turns out to be much more than an average entertainer. The screenplay takes good care of a constant flow of energy and doesn't let any dull moment to be there spoiling the whole game. Cinematography captures the fun & light feel of the movie superbly (with some great locations) and so does the background score which plays a major role in keeping you excited.

In India, a hit soundtrack is considered as half the battle won quite rightly. So as required the title track "Boss" becomes a perfect song to run in the background and "Hum Na Chhoren" has full energy in its choreography performed well featuring cameos by Prabhu Deva and Sonakshi Sinha. The major hit "Party All Night" (with the controversial word muted) further lifts your spirits up in the final hour easily and you can clearly hear the cheers once the current musical sensation Honey Singh comes on the screen, delivering his famous rap. Other than these Hits, there is a downer too in its soundtrack, which is a pathetic version of famous "Har Kisi Ko Nahin Milta Yahan Pyar" from JANBAAZ (1986). And I really fail to understand, why they try to recreate these old musical gems when they don't exactly know how to treat them with any similar kind of love, care and emotion.

Anyway, apart from the already famous songs, the greatest contribution of BOSS's soundtrack in my opinion is its rare, well thought of and soulfully penned song on "A Father" or "Pitaah", soulfully sung by Sonu Nigam. A song talking about a person, on whom you don't find many songs made in the history of Hindi Film Music in the recent past.

Looking at the project from the direction point of view, it's a strong comeback film for Anthony D'Souza after his last huge debacle. May be the reference point of the original worked here in his favour but the way he perfectly balances his both halves with the right insertions, it seems that he has positively moved on and has learned his lessons well. In the performances, here is a new, fresh or rather good old Akshay Kumar back in form as an all rounder entertainer and this is a rare Hindi film wherein the main hero doesn't have a heroine to romance.

Further in one of the best chase sequences filmed on actual locations, Akshay evidently shows that he is in fact the most physically fit actor in the Industry at the present, among his contemporaries. Mithunis simply outstanding as the father, following the path of honesty and Danny is a delight to watch, like always. Ronit Roy makes the best use of this grand opportunity given in a noteworthy, impactful manner and Shiv Pandit shows his yet to be tapped talent brightly. Aditi looks charming but has nothing to do as per the script. Johny Lever, Govind Namdev, Parikshit Sahni and Sanjay Mishra are fine but its Aakash Dabhade, who superbly adds to the comic element of the film along with Akshay. Besides Sudesh Berry, Mukesh Tiwari and Shakti Kapoor are just there for only one scene.

Coming out of the praising mode, BOSS has many unwanted and avoidable elements too which could have been left out to give it a better and universally appealing feel in totality. Firstly, there is big loop hole in the film dealing with the unintentional murder in the initial reels, for which the culprit is never booked by the law and he keeps moving freely. Secondly certain things are just added illogically in the film, like there was no need of Aditi to appear in a two piece costume which doesn't suit her shy & introvert character from any angle. Shakti Kapoor is brought in as a plumber just for nothing and then there are few double meaning dialogues added quite carelessly to cater a different section of viewers.

Nevertheless, ignoring the above loopholes in this otherwise enjoyable flick, I would like to add that if you truly love the 70s-80s old school feel of Hindi Cinema, full of masala entertainment & heroism, then BOSS is surely going to win you over largely. The film is well equipped with full on entertainment in WANTED style, so do give it a try and the chances are that you would not be disappointed, despite all the negative vibes.

Akshay Kumar has taken an oath to laugh at his own one-liners, do mindless comedies, do gravity defying action scenes, some songs by Honey Singh and all other cheap techniques. Every Friday there is a movie like this, Actors, Directors and Producers or for that matter all the crew members are taking the ingredients from Masala Movie template and cashing the receipts of money. There is something seriously wrong with our Film Industry because they have many movies on the floors; they are merely interested in good cinema. Akshay Kumar has done a great job but he is gradually diminishing his own image.

'Boss' (Akshay Kumar) who becomes a mobster serving jail in his childhood. His father (Mithun Chakraborty) has parted ways from him and doesn't want to see his face again. Surya's younger brother Shiv (Shiv Pandit) is in police custody due and ACP Ayushman Thakur (Ronit Roy) abhors him, as Shiv loves Ayushman's sister Ankita (Aditi Rao Hydari). No Boss has to save his brother because blood is thicker than water.

It is a remake of Malayalam movie 'Pokkiri Raja 2010', which itself a very bad movie. The writing is absolutely absurd because many things come and go without any significance. Akshay Kumar enters the screen after 30 minutes and gets the he is the only person on the screen. Jokes and punches are lame, forced songs give screenplay a hard time to manage the narrative.

Sanjay Mishra & Johnny Lever have been wasted completely. Mithun and Danny do what is required. Shiv and Aditi love track never impresses as they both look indifferent. Shiv Pandit has done an astounding Job is "Shaitan" and he should probably refrain from such roles.

The show stealer is "Ronit Roy" as a menacing and ruthless ACP; he delivers the dialogs the perfect body language. He is the only thing which sticks in the mind.

There are some of the scenes which make you laugh. Otherwise it is really a headache to hear the overdone dialogs and emotional scenes.

Overall, it the same movie that comes every Friday with different actors and crew.

The above summary is quoted from the review of Karan Anshuman of Mumbai Mirror because it makes sense...

Pokkiri Raja was funny as heck, maybe because the cast portrayal was ridiculously humorous. On the Bolly-hand, BOSS IS ludicrous where nothing is logical or scientific, but for the sake of entertaining, it DOES deliver content.

Also, the songs are catchy & full of beats. Just because the plot is too shabby for the even grotesque story idea, There is no need to blabber about how bad your expectations were thwarted, is there? We aren't expecting potential cinema from the makers either. Talking about the goodness, Ronit Roy's villainy demeanor is terrific and after his Udaan & Ugly, I am sure he is a busy man. I enjoyed watching him.

Akshay Kumar, for the first time, looked old on-screen. But his stunts were really good, not to mention how gravity-defying they were (Maybe because Cuaron's Gravity was playing in the next screen). Danny Denzongpa is good as well. And well, the women in here are puppets, no doubt.

Cinematography & editing is fine, direction is average. Humor has been worked out, but in an attempt to induce more, the writers lost the road. Some jokes are just too irritating, thereby making dramatic scenes into a mockery.

BOTTOM LINE: Although not much in this makes sense, it was a cool- afternoon watch. Recommended for people who have know what they have in store. 5.5/10. It doesn't bore.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Nudity/Vulgarity: Mild | Violence: Critical | Gore: Mild | Alcohol/Smoking: Strong