Opening Doorz

By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | September 01, 2017

Rating: 1 / 5

The essence: Baadshaho in a nutshell is an amalgamation of Kidnap, Cash and Players with a heavy dose of Tashan.

The movie begins with a scene in a palace in Rajasthan in 1973. We get a glimpse of a Sanjay Gandhi lookalike. He is Ranisa’s guest at a party in her haveli. Ranisa (Illeana D’Cruz) shows him around and then comes to the bedroom of her late father Rajasa. She explains to him that her father slept here to understand the heartbeat of his people. He (the Sanjay Gandhi lookalike) asks her who sleeps on it now, whilst advancing towards her in a not so ‘manly’ manner. She pulls off a sword from the wall, takes it from his groin to his chest and tells him off.

Obviously, he is furious. Two years later, he gets a chance to wreak havoc in her life when the country is under emergency and he has the army search her haveli for khazana. There is plenty found, she is put in prison.

She wants her gold out from the grasp of the government and she has her personal bodyguard in Bhawani (Ajay Devgn) who she can bank on anytime for anything. Bhawani does not disappoint.

So here we are: Ranisa is in jail, Bhawani is in and out of jail whilst getting three friends together to help him intercept the fortified army van which is transporting the gold.

The story moves forward when it moves backward. It all happens in flashback and is revealed to us in present times, i.e 1975.

After half an hour, you know that the film is not going anywhere. Thanks to the background score, that keeps jarring during the action scenes, the movie meanders on. You could say the background score is the star of the movie!

Baadshaho in a nutshell, is an amalgamation of Kidnap, Cash and Players with a heavy dose of Tashan.

Ajay Devgn does what he does best: Singham style action with a heavy dose of intensity. Emraan Hashmi will be ruing his luck. He comes so close to Sunny Leone in an item song and gets no chance to lock lips. Terrible for the lad whose ‘Kissmat’ on screen with his heroines has so far been very good. Even Esha Gupta does not allow him anywhere near her face.

That leaves us with Vidyut Jamwal who is a part of the army. He gets to do what Emraan normally does but his manhoos mooch comes in the way!

In one scene, mid-way through the movie, when the gold has been whisked off by Bhawani and his friends in the desert, the army chief says: “Let’s make this desert their prison.”

Boss, we have already been made prisoners in the theatre!

CREDITS
Producer: Bhushan Kumar, Milan Luthria, Krishan Kumar
Director: Milan Luthria
Star Cast: Ajay Devgn, Illeana D’Cruz, Esha Gupta, Emraan Hashmi