Title: Baby John
Director: Kalees
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jackie Shroff
Where to watch: In theatres near you
Rating: 1.5 stars
Now read the head line again and you can easily replace the ‘shining moment’ bit with ‘the only saving grace’ of the Varun Dhawan starrer mounted as a mass entertainer. No, we don’t like to reveal the surprise elements in the review. But so incoherent, messed up and chaotic (boringly so, at that) is this watch, that we had no option but to offer you the spoiler as the only respite!
But hey! Salman Khan making his mighty (and sparkling) presence felt is hardly a surprise these days, with Bhai popping up on the big screen in the form of a saviour is oh-so-commonplace that it can hardly be slotted into the category of being a spoiler, right!
In what can be termed as a seemingly never ending yawn-fest, stretching beyond 160 laborious minutes, Bhai’s entry in a post climax sequence is perhaps the only moment that draws whistle and cheers from the audience!
On the surface of it, director Kalees’ Baby John looks sleek, stylish and even sophisticated, but you know you are in for a rather skull-crushingly boring exercise as you cruise along the storyline that fails to stick–scenes after scenes, sequences after sequences! There’s this unflinching desperation of sorts to mount the film with a mass-appeal of unheard scale, but the shoddy screenplay, the sheer repetition of cliched set-pieces and poor writing (and equally forgettable acting) makes Baby John a tiring affair, the one that makes you feel nauseated.
Varun Dhawan tries hard to be cocky with his misplaced swagger, but his lines don’t quite land much like the over-the-top action that leaves you dizzy and exhausted. Adding insult to the grave injury is the line that comes from the terrific Rajpal Yadav -Comedy is a serious buisness! And laugh we all did–collectively, in the dark hall–perhaps the only relief in the watch that is more forced than fantastic (which it certainly aspires to be!)
The official remake of the film Theri, starring Vijay, Baby John offers a tale where the protagonists leads a double life as a cop who is seeking revenge.Beneath the otherwise tranquil veneer of a suburban life, our charming protagonist (Varun) resides with his daughter, their bond is more of a gentle hum of domesticity and all things smooth! The soft glow of attention from the child’s school teacher (Wamiqa) hints at an about to bloom romance, a whispered promise of warmth to come.
Yet, like a summer storm with its largely overbearing fury, violence erupts, shattering the stillness on display. The sudden and the solid transformation of sorts is akin to a butterfly unfurling its wings – in what is largely interpreted as a meek, and an unassuming man, gives way to a fierce warrior–his crisp lungi folded, his fists flying to deliver lethal blows. His past, of course, is a canvas painted with large brush strokes of sorrow and loss, begins to unfurl itself, exposing the dark chapters comprising a corrupt minister’s wrath (Jackie Shroff), and the devastating cost he exacts: the loss of his wife played by Keerthy Suresh and the mother played Sheeba.
Needless to say, the ‘bloody’ buisness has to have a logical end–the means employed here is violence. Varun puts to use everything and anything that comes his way as a weapon to punch, to slit throats and converts the baddies into a pulp, as he hams his way through the bloodfest (suits the title you see!)
In all this madness, we see his earnestness and his sincerity, but in all honesty, the execution of the film fails him. The hugely mounted mass appeal starts losing its sheen quickly. Keerthy Suresh looks both pretty and sharp, in terms of the visual appeal and the performance respectively. Wamiqa Gulabi just looks pretty and Jackie Shroff plays a menacing character without much impact.
Amidst the ear splitting background score and a story line that is as linear as the expression the star cast displays (and the emotions it evokes) ‘Baby John’ gives you all things chaotic, colorful and bloody desperate. It surely takes time to recover and restore normalcy from the sheer mess and the madness one has just witnessed!