May 07, 2010 05:47 PM
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(Updated May 07, 2010 05:49 PM)
Just few days back the motormen of Mumbai local trains had gone on a strike paralyzing the entire city. As the mayhem and madness was going on, my mind drifted to the classic strikes that have occurred before in the world and I was reminded of the funny shoe factory incident. Located in Japan, the disgruntled workers of the factory didn’t stop work. They went on doing their job but instead of manufacturing pairs of shoes, they produced shoes of just the left foot! The episode came to my mind once again while watching Badmaash Company which shows the four pals earning fast bucks using a trick similar to the aforementioned incident. What impresses about Badmaash Company is that the wirter-director Parmeet Sethi is a man with brains and has used it well! More details later!
The story of the movie: The story begins in Bombay, 1994. Karan (Shahid Kapoor), Bulbul (Anushka Sharma), Zing (Meiyang Chang) and Chandu (Vir Das), four youngsters who has just graduated conclude that they don’t want to do a job and slog like others. Instead, they start a business venture wherein they committed all wrong acts the right way! By doing a proper and systematic homework, they managed to succeed each time. The result: they soon turn millionaires! However, with riches came all its accompanying problems. How they tide over the crisis is what the rest of the film is all about.
Badmaash Company doesn’t begin impressively. The introduction of characters was funny but not anything great. But the film scores as it doesn’t waste time unnecessarily and moves rapidly in establishing characters, Shahid and his dad’s (Anupam Kher) conflict or Shahid-Anushka love affair. The mood sets as soon as the four pals commit their first ‘badmaash’ act which was simply amazing! The beauty of the sequence was till halfway, the audience is unaware that the characters are trying to con and when it gets revealed, it comes as a bolt from the blue! The film’s interest level then doesn’t dip for a long time. It was after the song ‘Ayaashi’ in the 2nd half that things go for a downfall. The conflict among the friends was forcefully added to get a new turn in the plot. Also, it was quite dragging. This proved detrimental to the film overall. So much so that when the film picks up in the climax, it doesn’t entertain much. If only Parmeet Sethi had made those sequences crisper, then it would have been a different story!
Every actor has given his best shot. Shahid Kapoor once again proves that he might not be delivering hits after hits, but he’s still one of the best around. Badmaash Company gives him a chance to showcase that he can be a pro when it comes to emotional and confrontational scenes as well. Watch out for him during his showdown with Chang, Anushka and Vir and also in the scenes when he turns into a ‘humble’ person. Surely one of the best performances of Shahid! Great going!
Anushka Sharma looks piping hot but at the same time gives a brilliant performance. She also leaves quite a mark in some sequences. She’ll soon be seen in 2 more films-Patiala House and Shaadi Mubarak Ho. Vir Das was terrific and provides laughs as well. But this guy has dollops of talent and unfortunately, this film doesn’t allow him to exhibit the same. Hopefully, in his forthcoming films, we’ll get to see it! Meiyang Chang was likeable and proves that he’s a nice performer too. But his hairstyle was plain pathetic! Kiran Juneja, Anupam Kher and Pawan Malhotra do a nice job in their respective supporting roles.
Pritam’s music was fresh and very likeable. All songs are rocking except Faqeera. Background score was awesome especially the title track trademark tune! Sanjay Kapoor’s cinematography was eye-catching. The foreign locales are beautifully shot.
Finally, Parmeet Sethi surprises as writer (story, screenplay, dialogue) as well as a director. He knew his job in all departments and gave his best shot. Story was unique, very novel and hopefully original too! Screenplay was effective in most scenes except in 2nd half. Dialogues were sharp and perfect while direction was quite apt. In fact, some scenes are so nicely executed that it is surprising to see that it’s helmed by a first time director! Shahid was right when he said, “It’s surprising why Parmeet didn’t turn a director earlier!”
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