Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz
Happy
Hitman
Babu Bihari
(Nawazuddin Siddiqui) is a gun for hire, and he does his killing work with
relish, which immediately makes him despicable and unworthy of the ‘hero’
status Kushan Nandy accords to him in the film Babumoshai Bandookbaaz.
Set in a
completely lawless Uttar Pradesh, where cops act as go-betweens to connect
clients with a hitman for a commission, nobody cares how many people die in ego
clashes between rival politicians. When Babu wants to woo a pretty cobbler
Phulwa (Bidita Bag), he kills two men, “for free” as he tells his employer. (Does
anyone in UP and Bihar ever get arrested for murder?)
He is pretty
much the killing champ till his copycat Banke Bihari (Jatin Goswami) turns up
to both aid and challenge him. Apart
from a cop who brings him work, Banke is the only friend he has, and he lets
his guard down, which proves fatal. Babu is not one to let a bullet stop him—he
laughs at pain, and believes he is invincible, but even he has no shield
against betrayal and deceit.
Nandy and
his writer Ghalib Asad Bhopali, have tried to ape the amoral universe of
Quentin Tarantino and his Indian disciple Anurag Kashyap; nobody is clean,
honest or trustworthy. Living in a place where they have no power except as
sexual beings, even the women are manipulative and treacherous.
At the top
of the heap is Sumitra (Divya Dutta), married to an old man, and seeking
political power through any means. She is Babu’s frequent client, but when she
thinks he has double-crossed her, she is vicious. Her rival Dubey (Anil George)
is equally nasty and also kinky. Then there’s another corrupt cop (Bhagwan
Tiwari), whose household is overrun by sons, and he forces his wife to keep
having kids because he wants a daughter.
If Nandy’s
idea was to show that there are places like this in India where evil abounds
and there is no hope at all, then he succeeds up to point, but then why would
viewers want to watch such an ugly film? These days controversy, sex and
profanity do not make for box-office magnets.
Siddiqui is
a fine actor, but he’s like spice in a dish—too much and it’s ruined. The other
actors are competent and look like they belong to that grungy world; casting
directors are getting better at their task.
Labels: Cinemaah
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