Heropanti 2 Review: As terrible as it gets.

Heropanti 2

Director: Ahmed Khan

Writer: Rajat Arora, Sajid Nadiadwala (Story)

Cast: Tiger Shroff, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tara Sutaria

Released in theatres.

It’s sad to see crores of rupees being spent on mediocre films. The crores and efforts spent on Heropanti 2 are visible in its production design, action, costumes, and choreography. But sadly, the least effort has gone into the script. As a result of which Heropanti 2 despite having a potent idea of a cyber scam becomes incoherent mayhem.

In Heropanti 2 Tiger Shroff plays Babloo, a genius hacker who becomes a part of the big bag empire of cybercrime run by Laila (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). Together they develop video games and apps that would extract the users’ valuable financial details and help Laila loot their money on March 31, the last day of the financial year when all the banks are loaded with money.

The film has a non-linear structure. But because none of the characters go through any sort of transformation, it’s confusing when the story is in the present day or in flashback. When done right, Tiger Shroff is a work of beauty when it comes to action and dance. There’s plenty of action here but no set piece has the wow factor. Lamborghinis go vroom, twisting and turning, an SUV crashes into a train and even manages to get completely inside a compartment before it stops in front of Babloo, and of course, Tiger beats hundreds of beefy men.

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Nawaz as the queer eccentric cybercriminal tries to have fun wearing feathery suits, glittery makeup, and jewelry. His manic laugh is retrieved from Shiv, a villain he played in another Sajid Nadiadwala film, the Salman Khan starrer Kick. That film was thoroughly enjoyable. Here, at times, it feels like Nawaz is laughing at us for watching this film.

The women in the film; Tara Sutaria as Inaya and Amrita Singh as Babloo’s munh-boli Maa, are annoying. Amrita Singh has the job of saying terrible lines of dialogue. Here are some: While leaving from the UK to India, she bids farewell to Babloo saying MCBC. Which we’re informed means Main Chali, Bye Cutie. Ah! Later while sitting at Ganga Ghat at Benaras, she prays to the Holy Ganges saying something to the effect of “The Thames can’t hear my prayers, only you can so protect my son”. Well. Tara Sutaria appears in skimpy clothes and tries to be as loud as she can, switching between British and Punjabi accents. She reasons, Desi girls can do that easily. She is the youngest gaming billionaire but spends most of the time in the film trying to woo Babloo. Come on.

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While Tiger does what he does best in action, the emotional scenes test his acting skills and our patience. His profession as a hacker has little to do with his character. His hacking into a system is simply him running his fingers on the keyboard while random codes appear on the screen. Anyway.

AR Rahman’s music also doesn’t soothe the pain. The film has gone through some patchwork in the post and it’s visible, especially in dubbing. The climax sequences are well designed, choreographed, and photographed. It gives you something to cheer for because you know that the end is nearing and this is the best that you’re gonna get. In films like these, you wish that at least it gets so bad that it’s good. No such luck here. Simply put, Heropanti 2 directed by Ahmed Khan neither qualifies as a film nor entertainment. I don’t recommend it, but if you must, then you can watch the film at a theatre near you.