163. Bachchhan Paandey; movie review

 

BACHCHHAN PAANDEY

Cert 15

147 mins

BBFC advice: Contains strong bloody violence, threat

What a very strange film.

For more than two hours, Akshay Kumar plays a rather convincing outback gangster who kills more often than he drinks tea.

And yet somehow he becomes the hero of Farhad Samji's film and I still can't quite work out how or why.

The picture's concept surrounds the ambition of an aspiring young director (Kiriti Sanon) attempting to prove herself by creating her own feature.

Never mind the fact that she has no obvious backer or a crew, she sets out to research Bachchhan Paandey, (Kumar). one of the most dangerous men in India.

She enlists her friend (Arshad Warsi) to help under the unlikely promise that he will play a prominent on-screen role in her movie.

And the two of them begin learning about the merciless slayings of the killer and his gang and she even insists on meeting him.

There is no obvious financial motivation for Paandey - he just seems to enjoy shooting people or slicing their throats.

Surely, this can't be true, can it?

The lovable Akshay Kumar cannot just be a dark dismal character who doesn't even speak to his own mother?

Nah - this movie was never going to leave us on a downer, was it?

Frankly, I thought Samji's movie was daft. Sanon's character is naive to the point of stupid and Kumar's is wildly exaggerated.

In addition, I could not work out whether its denouement was meant to be funny or just turned out to be laughable.

Kumar has said that he has a number of pictures lined up because of the pandemic.

Let's hope they make a tad more sense than this.

Reasons to watch: Kumar playing a brutal villain

Reasons to avoid: It is too silly to be dark

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 5/10

Did you know? The title derives from a character of the same name, played by Kumar, in the 2008 actioner Tashan. The title was initially spelled Bachchan Pandey but was later changed to Bachchhan Paandey.

The final word. Kriti Sanon: "I think it was very fun experience, especially after the whole lockdown, we were in Jaisalmer and it was a time when everyone was cautious and we took a whole plane for the crew and we stayed in Suryagarh Palace, and it was just us there. We were shooting only around the hotel, we used to eat together, we used to play games. So, it became like a family, we used to play games and shoot in the middle of the games. So, the whole experience was a lot of fun." National Herald

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