Bachchhan Paandey review: Illogical and Over the Top

BACHCHHAN PAANDEY

Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala

Director: Farhad Samji

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kriti Sanon, Jacqueline Fernandez, Arshad Warsi, Gaurav Kapoor, Dr Mohan Agashe, Seema Biswas , Dolly Thakur, Saharsh Kumar Mishra, Sanjay Mishra and Prateik Babbar.

Platform of Release: Theatrical

Rating:

By Jyothi Venkatesh

Given that it’s a remake of the super duper Tamil hit Jigarthanda , a formula film in the genre of dark, action comedies, ‘Bachchhan Paandey’ replicates what has already worked in the south. But in spite of its grandiosity and star power, this one only manages to be just about an average entertainer.

At the outset, without wasting time, I’d not at all hesitate to state that Farhad Samji’s ‘Bachchan Pandey’ is a tale of the self-proclaimed don of Bhagwa, Bachchan Pandey with an eye made of stone (Akshay Kumar), who has unleashed a reign of terror, mercilessly killing those who even dare to challenge him.The film revolves around a budding director, Myra (Kriti Sanon) from Mumbai, who ,along with her actor-friend Vishu (Arshad Warsi), decides to make a biopic on him and land in Bhagwa, and what ensues afterwards.

Apart from the brain numbing action sequences, directed by Anal Arasu, there is a generous dose of blood and gore. Bachchan Pandey and his coterie of goons — Kandi (Saharsh Kumar Shukla), Bufferiya (Sanjay Mishra), Pendulum (Abhimanyu Singh) and Virgin (Prateik Babbar) gleefully slash people’s throats and fire at them without even blinking an eyelid.

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The screenplay is very loose and has a lot of loopholes, with Bachchan’s love life with Sophie (Jacqueline Fernandez), who’s killed, the great unexplained betrayal by his boss (Mohan Agashe), and his mother (Seema Biswas), who has stopped speaking to him for the past 10 years, which are nothing but forced attempts to add to the sheer melodrama, and evoke sympathy for Pandey, which only lengthen the film, apart from not being in sync with Pandey’s character and the flavour of the plot, and drag the film down by several notches in one go.

The film without expectedly belongs to Akshay Kumar, who plays uninhibitedly, an evil persona, driving around in his vintage car,and  delivers a strong and self-assured act, as always. While Bachchan Pandey’s back story justifies his motive to be the bad man, his turning over a new leaf, is a tad flimsy, hurried and unconvincing. Kriti Sanon as the determined assistant director, who becomes the director Myra, displays every inch the confident, creative and gutsy person she is supposed to be and is at ease with Akshay Kumar, exuding unparalleled confidence. Arshad Warsi, who plays Vishu, an actor struggling to fulfil his father’s unfulfilled dream of making it big, has not been tapped properly while Seema Biswas shines in a small role, Mohan Agashe, Gaurav Chopra and Prateik Babbar have been wasted in inconsequential roles.

On the whole, it is an insipid, verbose and illogical over the top film which will find it difficult to cope at the box office because already The Kashmir Files is running and RRR is all set to invade most of the screens next Friday.