Bachchhan Paandey Review

Originality sometimes feels overrated, at least when it comes to mainstream films. Bachchan Pandey has little that sets it apart, save the unorthodox way it is spelled. It is a remake of the Telugu film Gaddalakonda Ganesh, which itself was a remake of the Tamil film Jigarthanda, which - you guessed it - was a remake of the South Korean film A Dirty Carnival.

Director Farhad Samji is no stranger to mass entertainers, having directed the questionable Housefull 4. He enlists the help of a team of not two, not three, but six writers to pen the script for this action comedy, and proves yet again the old adage "too many cooks spoil the broth".

Myra Devekar (Kriti Sanon) is an aspiring filmmaker out to prove herself by making a biopic on dreaded gangster Bachchan Pandey (Akshay Kumar). She sweet-talks an associate, Vishu (Arshad Warsi), into helping her research her script - following and filming Pandey as he goes about his bloodthirsty business, and the duo set out to snoop and spy on a criminal feared by everyone, with the risk of facing the business end of a revolver ever present.

All the best-laids plans must go awry in any Bollywood comedy worth its salt, of course, and Myra soon gets entangled in a business that she has no business being involved in.

The worst part about Bachchan Pandey is that the film genuinely seems like it had potential, as it subverts quite a few expected tropes in its 150-minute run time, but fails to make anything of it by the end. The clichéd "love is the solution to everything" that the movie adopts as a central mantra becomes all the more unbelievable due to the brutality of Pandey's actions - you are expected to just unquestioningly imagine a violent gangster turning over a new leaf due to the power of love. The first half is fast-paced, even gripping at times, but the movie starts to falter when the action gives way to this drama in the last hour. We blame the script, which lacks coherence, as can be expected when there are six scriptwriters involved.

Depsite that, Bachchan Pandey is the kind of masala film that a lot of the moviegoing audience enjoys, as evidenced by the hooting and clapping in the theatre. It's a crowd-pleasing entertainer, with a mishmash of everything - action, comedy, romance, tragedy and drama. Over the top one-liners, some surprisingly violent action sequences, and the usual song and dance sequences complete the checklist. The film did have the opportunity of venturing into the noir comedy territory with how the first half was set up, but it takes the safe route into happily-ever-after land.

The movie is extremely guilty of wasting the talents of the likes of Arshad Warsi, whose "second hero" arc feels as unfulfilled in the actual script as it does in the script of Myra's biopic in the film. Jacqueline Fernandez is similarly wasted, relegated to the role of being tragic eye candy. Akshay Kumar seems to sleepwalk his way through a script tailor-made for him - and is elevated by the supporting cast of his character's henchmen. Kriti Sanon has the most amount of screen presence, and she does it justice.

The icing on the cake, however, is Pankaj Tripathi, who enters and exits with a bang as acting coach Bhavesh Bhoplo. Pandey's three lieutenants, Kaandi (Saharsh Kumar Shukla), Pendulum (Abhimanyu Singh) and Bufferia Chacha (Sanjay Mishra), do the best they can with the script - though they never look menacing like the gangsters they are, and are reduced to being just comic relief.

Julius Packiam's score is a surprise, standing out beyond what you would expect from a movie like this. The multiple songwriters, however, are not at the same level, and there is not even a single memorable song from the movie. Gavemic U Ary, who was also the cinematographer for Jigarthanda, does a stand-up job, especially with the colour-editing.

Bachchan Pandey is a mass entertainer down to the tee, and there's not much else to say about it. It is a decent one-time watch, though it definitely had the potential to be much more than that.