Change is constant but not for Indian
Railways. In 1955, Sunil Dutt starrer RAILWAY PLATEFORM became an eyewitness to
passengers of every kind being stranded at a deserted railway station for 24
hours when their train gets delayed due to some natural calamity. Decades
later, it strikes again. This time, in Sabbir Khan’s BAAGHI! The
train stops at a local station and declines to move ahead before the girl meets
the boy, both show off their moves in a rain-dance, the villain gets introduced
and even the lovebirds gets separated then and there to wrap up the chapter.
All I can say is that things if not moving really hurt; be it the Indian
railways or an emotionless story. BAAGHI is a romantic action-entertainer that irritates
you more with regular romance, repetitive action and regrettable comedy track.
A vague mash-up of Telugu movie VARSHAM
and the Indonesian path-breaking action thriller THE RAID: REDEMPTION; BAAGHI solely
rests upon the all muscular, flexible and flashy shoulders of Tiger Shroff.
Though limited in his talents on/for screen, Tiger is the only best
thing happened to the film, apart from some of the magical visuals from
southern India captured by ace-cinematographer Binod Pradhan.
BAAGHI has its own share of futility in
romance and action both. Ronny [Tiger Shroff] falls in love with
Siya [Shraddha Kapoor] instantly after watching her in a one-sided
conversation with clouds. She loves rain, you know. And apparently whenever
they meet, it starts raining. Who would not fall for such a phenomenal guy at such
times when people in nation are dying while waiting for the rain? God must be
really romantic, and carelessly crazy. Meanwhile, the villain also seems to
have an eye for the girl loving rain. Raghav [Sudheer Babu] does
everything in the villain’s textbook to get the girl, from killing his own
father to kidnapping the girl and making various attempts to eliminate the boy.
Sabbir Khan makes an interesting and
quite effective addition to the film in form of Kalaripayattu- a traditional
martial art from Kerala. Till the time the film revolves around the institution
Ronny has been placed in to learn the art, it never actually sees a dull moment
but soon, Sabbir runs out of ideas and starts focusing on the tiring traditional
concept of romance with all the dialoguebaazi and action. You can
imagine the maker’s vision behind making this film when the opening credit roll
reads ‘Chartered Accountant’ & ‘Financial Advisor’ slides way before the
creative minds could get a mention.
Tiger gives it all when it comes to using his
muscular strength, balance and will-power much-needed for some brilliantly
choreographed action sequences but his trouble in moving facial muscles takes
out all the empathy the boy earns for himself. Shraddha Kapoor too
gets a few ass-kicking action-scenes on her part to impress. Sudheer Babu
despite his effortless martial art moves, looks more like a slightly better
version of Sachiin Joshi [Who?? Exactly]. Sunil
Grover and Sanjai Mishra are a complete waste of talents. Sunil
though gives you some quick chills as a scheming father to Shraddha’s
character. Kalaripayattu Guru Grandmaster Shifu Shaurya
Bhardwaj makes a fiery appearance on screen.
To sum up, BAAGHI comes out as a stale reproduction
of 80’s/90’s idea of romance. A leech and lewd father ready to exploit his own
daughter for financial profits, a powerful villain who stops at nothing and an obviously
emotional hero who manages to rise up from the dust and hits back when the
villain pushes him hard emotionally by disclosing the last hidden secret, “I
killed him, you fool”! Good luck to you, if it suits your idea of entertainment!
[1.5/5]
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