Bachchhan Paandey Movie Review :Manages to entertain in bits and pieces

Review:Baghwa is a land so lawless where cops are beaten by the goons in broad daylight and journalists are burnt alive. The gundas here only speak the language of guns and the most notorious of them all is Bachchhan Paandey (Askhay Kumar). The larger-than-life persona of this hitman catches the fancy of a struggling filmmaker Myra (Kriti Sanon), who lands in Baghwa to make a full-fledged feature film on him. Her friend Vishu (Arshad Warsi) is a struggling actor, who reluctantly agrees to help her in this doomed mission and thus begins a bloody roller coaster ride that is marked by death and destruction.

Somehow ‘Bachchhan Paandey’ doesn’t deliver the goods consistently. It’s a massive setup that seems heavily inspired by the Tarantino school of filmmaking. There are sweeping slo-mo shots of the protagonist driving around in his vintage open car in dry and arid landscapes of North India and an eerily cheerful background score that ensures his dark deeds don’t evoke much fear within the audience. Then, does it evoke comedy? Well, no because barring a few jokes there aren’t many more to begin with. This despite a mix of of talented character artists, who are known for their impeccable comic timing. Like Sanjay Mishra, who plays the stuttering Bufferia Chacha or Pankaj Tripathi, as the tyrant acting coach Bhaves Bhoplo from Gujarat. They bring in the laughs when they deliver their punchlines, but their characters are eclipsed by so much else that’s going on in this chaotic mess. Arshad Warsi has more screen time but doesn’t ever get a chance to shine in this dark comedy.

The first half is used to set up the story, but doesn’t move at a desired pace. Thankfully, there are some minor conflicts and plot twists that make you look forward to the second half, however the screenplay takes forever to make a point. The music is a big letdown and only adds to the runtime.

Akshay Kumar gets to have the most fun playing a lunatic killer, who has a backstory, but it’s barely convincing. Kriti Sanon looks gorgeous and performs well within her character. Jacqueline Fernandez as Paandey’s girlfriend Sophie is so repetitive and restricted that it’s hard to tell this one apart from many of her previous roles. Ditto for Prateik Babbar, who plays a goofy goon once again and doesn’t leave a mark. Abhimanyu Singh and Saharsh Kumar Shukla are entertaining as Pendulum and Kaandi, respectively.

For the action fans, there is enough brutality and bloodbath that is shot in slick frames. Given that it’s a remake of a formula film in the genre of dark, action comedies, ‘Bachchhan Paandey’ even with all its grandiosity and starpower, only manages to entertain in bits and pieces.