May 29, 2005 10:34 AM
1842 Views
(Updated May 29, 2005 05:21 PM)
Duniya mein do tarah ke movies hote hain... Ek jo audience ko fully satisfy karte hain, doosara, jo nahin karte hain. Yeh doosara tarah ka hain....
Bunty aur babli was for sure, one much awaited movie. My room mate went and stood in the queue for one hour in PVR cinemas, Bangalore to get hold of five tickets, and we rushed in for the Friday night show with a lot of expectations... But when we walked out, most expectations weren't met...
The movie starts with an outstanding song- one of the best in the movie- 'Dhadak dhadak dhua udaye re...'' (our expectations soared) Rakesh (Bachan Jr) is an unemployed (he chooses to be so) single son of a Railway ticket checker (Raj Babbar). He is fed up with the ''Chote chote sheharon and khali bore dopeharon'', and decides to try his luck elsewhere. His dad tries to get him a job at railways, but the chap isn't interested, as he is a guy with an entrepreneurial mind. He runs off from home, to get his idea working in some financing firm. Vimmy (Rani) is the eklauti daughter of a sikh family, dreaming of becoming a model. When her dad (Punit Issar) forces her to get married, she also runs off. Both are unsuccessful in making it big, and meet at at a railway station, and become friends. They run from place to place trying to get a break, but finally decides that honesty is not the right thing that will earn your bread. They decide to turn small time crooks to earn the money that will take them to Mumbai...
Under the Alias of Bunty and Babli, they swindle rich people out of their hard earned money, and even splits the loot among the poor. Here lies the first mistake that the author has committed- The plots of Rani and Abhishekh tricking people is not at all convincing, except in one or two scenarios. It makes one wonder whether people and the law are are so stupid... Finally when they have enough money, they decide that they go to Mumbai, to follow their dreams. When they reach Mumbai and decide to part, they find that the strings of tender feelings have them tied together, and finally decide that Bunty and Babli are not complete without each other. They get married, and decide to continue as Bunty and Babli...
Enter Bachan Sr, a drunken Cop, Assistant Commissioner, Dasharath Sigh, blabbering nonsense and firing his pistol at the B&B marks left by Bunty and Babli at the places where they have committed the robberies. Their paths cross once, but Dasharath doesnt identify them(Billion dollar question- even after they have tricked many people, not even a single sketch of the couple was being made by the police, from the eye witnesses' description?) Dasharath sings and dances with them (and Aishwarya rai ) in a bar in an item number (Again, the song is catchy, Bachans have moved their feet well, and Aish is ravishing , but the song is completely out of place) Finally they attempt a huge robbery when Rani is 9 months pregnant, and about to deliver (more of nonsense, but without this, I guess the movie is incomplete).
Dasharath chases them, but Rani successfully delivers the baby and they escape. In the train, they decide that they dont want their kid to grow up in jail, and give up robbery, and the moment they land, they are picked up by Dasharath.... To know what happens next, you dont need to watch the rest of the movie, you just need to think along the normal Bollywood movie track!!!
Both the Bachans and Rani are impressive, but the Cop role doesnt utilize even one tenth of Amitabh's acting prowess. Nobody else has any significant role in the movie, its just the three of them all along. Songs are the best part of the movie, all songs composed by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy are equally good, but the best ones are 'dhadak dhadak' and 'Chup chup ke, chup chup ke, Chori se chori'. Rani and Aishwarya do their bit of skin show, but it never slips into vulgarity. The choreography is also well done, and over all it is a colorful movie, which doesn't make much sense. The script also is a letdown. For such a movie, with a thin story, the script should have been catchier. It is brilliant in patches, but what was needed was a rib tickler...
The biggest flaw is definitely the story, or the lack of story, though the Trio of Bachans and Rani try to make up for that to the maxmium extent possible. But in the end, the movie comes a cropper to make it to the level of Dhoom or Hum tum... My verdict is - The initial pull, and the songs might make the movie an average hit, but nothing above that is possible with so frail a story line....
