Bobby Jasoos

While my choice of genre doesn't really allow me to digest modern popcorn blockbuster Bollywood movies, I often tend to enjoy them occasionally if served with a good story and execution. I will have to say that Bobby Jasoos was not one of them.

Bobby Jasoos seems to be a half baked, self pretentious attempt in directing by Samar Shaikh and endorsed by Diya Mirza as a Producer, whose skills could have been better utilized as an actress to save this movie a little.

The story of Bobby Jasoos is about a 30 year old Muslim girl named Bobby, residing in the heart of Hyderabad city near the iconic Charminar. While she keeps herself involved in investigating cases in night and trying to get a proper detective job in daytime. She is having a rough time in securing clients as a detective, but luck takes a big turn as she receives an assignment that pushes her to her limits. Rest of the film is a riot as she tries to struggle her career as a detective and manage her family emotionally who doesn't seem to be in favor of what Bobby does.

While the film seems to have so much potential what makes it fail is the treatment. The film starts of in a humorous tone and actually seems like to begin with the right foot. But as it picks up pace we are introduced some of the people that seems like a cliché examples of typical characters from all of the Bollywood movies I detest watching. Slowly the viewer is faced with slapstick humor, family drama and been-there-done-that events that feels like Deja Vu in the course of a family drama movie.

Songs don't help either. Neither of the songs in the film leaves an impression on the viewers mind, rather give them a chance to take a break and catch up on sleep while they are at it. There is one particular song in the movie which I won't specify to stay away from spoilers, and which I personally think was totally uncalled for in the situation. Perhaps the pacing or editing could have been a lot better, so as to give the movie a coherent flow.

In this movie Vidya Balan in the role of Bobby gets to change in a lot of getup (around 12) but most of them doesn't help the story in much ways. It looks as if she was made to change just for the sake of humor. While the film can be considered short at just 121 minutes, it feels somewhat dragged occasionally, and fails to let viewers invest their emotions into any of the characters except of the lead character.

That being said, the film does have its moments but those are just a few. I would also say it was a daring attempt to try to execute a movie with only a female lead, who for the most part remains out of glamor, and where she is also shown to break free from many of the stereotypical role a women is portrayed in Indian movies. I would also have to admire Vidya Balan for his acting skills as he was very convincing in all of those getup she did on screen. I would not blame the execution of the movie on her since the onus of the complete movie lied on her shoulders alone. And she did her role perfectly.

It would be fair to say that while the first half of Bobby Jasoos, raises viewers interest a little, second half helps it raise even further, but the final twist fails to live up to the expectation.

One more movie "Queen" was also released recently where the story was about a female lead who is shown to break free from various stereotypical roles, but it would be unfair to compare both of them, because while Queen was set up in vibrant and colorful foreign cities like Paris and Amsterdam and was more closer to today's generation, Bobby Jasoos relates more to India and typical Indian family drama, and was filmed totally in the streets of semi urban parts of Hyderabad which gave the movie a special flavor of India, more closer to most of the people of the country.

Combined with all other things I would rate the film a 6 out of 10. Extra 1 to give Bollywood a break from the male dominant masala movie and an attempt to create India's own Sherlock Holmes.

Bobby Jasoos wastes no time. The very first scene introduces us to the antiques of this talented private detective who wishes to make it big but as of now is only making small money on petty cases - like snooping on lovers and working on extra-marital cases.

Set in Moghalpura, Hyderabad, Bobby Jasoos is the story of a woman who wants to become a famous detective. Equipped with sharp mind, polished by detective shows on TV, things are never easy for Bobby. She is a woman after all! More so because a father who is disapproving of her conduct.

Read more on -

http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/14163/bollywood.hindi/bobby- jasoos/4738/review.htm

A spy movie with comical touch, not a bad idea. But somehow when the script started taking serious turn the expectations of those viewers who were looking for some intense drama levelled up only to be served with some old melodramatic twist. There were many issues that could have been addressed without deviating from the theme, but then this is our usual bollywood stuff. I was hoping for some spy "Kahaani".

Many a times we have witnessed that a strong script or promising plot needs a good direction else it crumbles down on screen. It can happen to any movie whether Hollywood or any other movie industry globally. Bobby Jasoos is no exception in this case. After a long time in Bollywood where fans of suspense or thriller genre were feeling excited after watching the trailers of this movie. As it promised a very entertaining plot similar to the classic Japanese series of Hibari Torimonocho where a female detective in ancient Japan investigates cases. And those movies were pretty entertaining even if swordplay or action was equally involved in increasing the stakes for characters. I am a great fan of suspense movies as i have been infuenced with the stories of writers like Robert Laudlum, Dan Brown, Greg Iles, Stephen L Cater and less known Indian writers like Ved Prakash Sharma. It does not require one to involve every trick of the trade to make a suspense or thriller it just take a promising plot and to provide enough twists that the audience do not loose interest. But same can not be said about this movie. Vidya Balan is playing the lead female detective who do not possess any academic qualification or skills and experience in solving crimes except following neighborhood adults for spying so that she can break off the engagement of the paying party or whose son has started smoking/drinking. She is obsessed with making it big as a female detective and looking for her big break. She is amidst the family expectations of her father in a traditional middle class Muslim family of southern Indian town. Her father and mother wants her to get settled with Tasawur(Ali Fazal)her client cum source TV Reporter, who hires her every now and then to get rid off marriage proposals sent by his own father. While trying to adjust her personal and professional life one day she gets her big break when a client (Kiran Kumar) mysteriously appears and offers her big amount just to find someone and the silly approaches used by her takes the story further with lots of twists and turns where the intentions of this mysterious client are unknown and suspicion of bobby begins to build up.

On the whole you can put the performance in two parts. the first part is before the interval where it felts like the movie has indeed something good to offer. All the elements of a good story building are here. And expectations gets high. But in post interval any person who has seen even a single suspense movie can tell the climax way before the ending (not exactly but one get the feel what could be the possible scenarios in their gut). So once the movie finished i wished if i could meet the director and can give him couple of my ideas on how to make story better if next time he tries his hands on the suspense again. Vidya Balan played her part and she was fine in her given role. but what makes a detective detective is not relative here. It is just a pain to watch such a promising plot go down the drain. If Indian directors wants to know how a suspense or detective thriller movie should be made just watch this Hong Kong movie The Detective(2007) starring Aaron Kwok. I am mad because this movie could have been a block buster with the kind of plot the director had and still they cannot give a spine chilling or maddening suspense thriller. The male lead has done a good job and he looks comfortable along with Vidya. The Veteran Kiran Kumar had nothing more to do but why stay limited at one bad guy. The one complaint that i had with the movie is why the director did not used his imagination in creating a real Jasoosi story whose tile involves the word Jasoos itself. I believe the producers also are a reason in India as why the promising plots does not turns out to be a good movie. They worry too much and do not allows a new or less known director to give the freedom in experimenting with the story. The Music in the movie was not required at all and is not pleasing. None of the songs will be remembered by any one. So instead of wasting good 20-22 minutes of audience some of the work on story would have been nice. But it is of no use. The movie is a one time watch. It will please to some audience who have not been able to enjoy any good quality suspense movies in recent time. But it is opinion of just one man who has seen movies of every other country and knows the elements of a good suspense story telling.

Characters have worked hard no doubt about it. It is easy to criticize the actors or movie but it takes real hard work in making them as well and i really appreciate all your hard work. but this complaint i am making is just because i know we can make good cinema but sometimes we can do better as we have all the things we require. So keeping my fingers crossed for future as someone in Bollywood may have better talent in making such suspense stories a treat for everyone.

My Rating 5/10.

Vidya Balan strikes back as "Bobby Jasoos" wherein she plays an amateurish detective. But does it really create an impact????? In the beginning of the movie you get introduced to the world of Mughalpura in Hyderabad, the place where Bobby Jasoos stays and her struggle to become a famous detective and her immediate family of sisters and Khala's. Life changes for her when a stranger Anees Khan (Kiran Kumar) gives her an assignment to find out a girl Nilofer in Mughalpura. Who is Anees Shaikh and why does he want to know about the girl….forms the rest of the plot.

Written by Samyukta Chawla Shaikh, the story and screenplay emphasizes not only on Bilkis Ahmed's a.k.a Bobby Jasoos's professional adventure but also her personal life and somewhere in the story and screenplay that takes pretence and the movie looses completely on the aspect of edge of seat thriller which is expected from a detective movie. There are many characters introduced in the movie but many of them have no relevance to the main plot. The sequence which involves Bobby's personal life is very well written. After an hour especially post interval is when the screenplay just falls flat and the not so impactful climax does not help either.

Debutant director Samar Shaikh tries his best to make the setting as realistic as possible and is successful as well, right from the dialect of all the characters to the settings, but where the movie falters is the absence of thrill which is expected from a movie based on a detective.

It is the superlative performances of the ensemble cast which lifts the movie. Vidya Balan as Bilkis Ahmed/ Bobby Jasoos does a good job. Ali Fazal as Tasawur is earnest in his portrayal but somewhere he gets overshadowed by the rest of the cast. Other cast like Arjan Bajwa, Supriya Pathak, Kiran Kumar, Aakash Dahiya, Rajendra Gupta, Benaf Dadachanji and Prasad Barve do a fantastic job rising above the writing. Tanvi Azmi and Zarina Wahab are excellent but are wasted in brief roles.

Another highlight of the movie is the Production Design and the Costumes. Production Design by Tariq Umar Khan is spot on and very realistic, the same goes for the costumes by Thei Tekchandaney & Sheetal Sharma which absolutely blends with the narration.

The third highlight is the Cinematography by Vishal Sinha which captures Hyderabad especially the locality of Charminar like a dream.

Shatanu Moitra's music is average excluding one song "Arziyaan"..

After watching the movie I was confused whether I liked the movie or did not like it, so I came to the conclusion that it is a" Thriller without the Thrills" I will go with five Stars, watch it for its performances...