Bachchan Pandey Review: A contrived comedy which needs a cultivated sense of humour

Farhad Samji choses to travel from South Korea via Tamil cinema to Bollywood with this over the top Akshay Kumar film. Released on Holi it is as chaotic as the colours of the fest- except that it is not organic. It is contrived. It is dated with the kind of humour that has far outlived […]

Farhad Samji choses to travel from South Korea via Tamil cinema to Bollywood with this over the top Akshay Kumar film. Released on Holi it is as chaotic as the colours of the fest- except that it is not organic. It is contrived. It is dated with the kind of humour that has far outlived its utility and only goes with the production house that finds age as its greatest claim.

The Naidadwala house of entertainment never had pretentions about its school of cinema. So is it with this outing. To be fair: the promos clearly tell you what to expect. They deliver a tad more.

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This is all about the local goon who is some kind of a mobile torture unit when he is not part of a rap group. He is the local synonym for the dreaded Gabbar far more purposeless and uncontrolled. Stationed in Bhagwa where there is no law and order and he is the uncrowned mafia lord, he needs a psychiatrist more than the policeman. His team has Kandi (Saharsh Kumar Shukla), Bufferiya(Sanjay Mishra), Pendulum (Abhimanyu Singh), Virgin (Prateik Babbar) and Snehal Dabbi. This terror team has a field day when comes in Myra (Kriti Sanon), and her friend Vishu (Arshad Warsi) both in the field of cinema to fulfill their parental dreams.

Out to make an exposure of the Don, the film maker goes about getting material for a biopic and how it makes things worse or better for her is the part humor part gory tale of a town goon – crude rude and a prude. He too has a love story that has turned sad with Sophie (Jacquleine).

With a lizard crawling and a hammer at work as the credit rolls you know that there is a certain factored perversity in the way the film maker conjures entertainment. You stay on to see that the beginning is but a preface and you need some queer understanding or imagination of entertainment to give this kind of craft for about two hours and a half and some taste to lap it up.

The cast is largely unruly in a style that is a narrative of its own. From the Bappi Lahiri school our Don is a moving bank locker of chains and rings. The guys give you a feel that there is barber willing in the town to deal with the gang. However in fairness to them it is they who largely add to the film.

Straight faced Saharsh and the enthusiastic Abhimanyu add energy to the tale. Prateik tries hard. Sanjay Mishra, Mohan Agashe and Seema Biswas are wasted. Akshay Kumar in the central role retains his timing with his one-liners but is generally over the top and often irritating. Arshad Warsi yet again reiterates his command on comedy and is perfect foil to the in-form Kriti Sanon. Pankaj Tripathi in a cameo is worth mentioning. It is however Kriti Sanon who literally carries the movie on his shoulder and does a fine job given the script, the stereotypical mold of the character.

Bachchan Pandey is a contrived comedy and it needs a cultivated sense of humour to enjoy the film.