Baadshah; or, Shah Rukh Khan in the wrong place at the wrong
time
This review shall be about, in my personal opinion, a quite
remarkable movie. Why remarkable? Because Shahrukh Khan is in it? Not really...
Remarkable, because it is a ridiculously hilarious 3-hour long spoof of action
films.
Release Info
Directed by: Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla, Mastan Alibhai Burmawalla Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Rakhee, Amrish Puri
Language: Hindi Movie Industry: Bollywood Runtime: 177 min
Plot
The story focuses on Baadshah (SRK) who is an easy-going,
and naive, but highly efficient private detective. One day, he receives an
assignment to convince the daughter of a wealthy businessman to marry a man
that is preferred by her father. Due to a large paycheck, Baadshah decides to
firstly make the girl fall in love with him and later dump her, thus throwing
her into the arms of the picked man. When the job is done, he moves on to
another case concerning a kidnapped child. What Baadshah does not know is that
both cases are connected and, in fact, he has got himself involved in a
political conspiracy, whose aim is the assassination of the Chief Minister of
Goa...
It is obvious that Bollywood movies tend to rely on a
mixture of different genres, but this particular picture is predominantly a
comedy and an extremely well-made one. From the very start we are presented
with the sheer insanity of hilarious plot twists, which even J.J. Abrams and
Damon Lindelof could be envious of. In addition to this, we are served with
some proper action stunts, dancing scenes, and a love subplot, obviously.
Nevertheless, all of this actually works well together on screen and what we
get is a fine piece of entertainment.
Cast
Although I’m not a huge SRK fan, I admit that this time he
perfectly conforms to the humorous tone of the movie and I can’t imagine the
character of Baadshah being played by any other actor. Perhaps this is the case
because of SRK’s frivolous attitude that is present in the majority of his
movies. However, in some instances, it
can become an annoying backdrop to the entire picture (cough... Duplicate... cough),
but here it actually pays off.
The rest of the cast did a great job as well. Amrish Puri (whom some of you may
recognise as the over-the-top baddie from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
is pretty convincing as a mischievous bio-chemical entrepreneur who decides to
kill the Chief Minister, and, on a side note, his interactions with Baadshah
are hysterical. Moreover, graceful Rakhee also does great as the Chief
Minister and she really pulls off the burden of portraying a firm, honest, and
unbreakable politician devoted to the needs of the people. If only real-life
politicians were like that.
The only casting choice which really bothered me was Twinkle
Khanna as Seema. From the very first scene in which she appears, it feels as if
somebody pushed a stick into a propeller. She is simply not convincing as an
undercover agent and, most of the time, resorts to playing a bland
damsel-in-distress. My guess is that she got the job because she has a pretty
face, but even playing in a comedy calls for some acting skills! Unfortunately,
I haven’t seen any other movies with Khanna because she might have showed her
true abilities elsewhere, but in this movie, she was hugely miscast.
Soundtrack & Dance Scenes
In terms of the Bollywoood trademark which are the dancing
scenes, the movie rocks as well. As I counted correctly, we get at least 5 of
these and they are all awesome. My personal favourite is the first song called
“Main to Hoon Pagal” and it’s also one of my all-time favourite Bollywood songs
along with its outstanding choreography and up-beat rhythm. In addition, every
song in this movie, especially the Baadshah theme, are really catchy and all
the dance scenes provide great fun and entertainment too.
References
The assets of this film are not over yet. The fact is that this film is filled with
references to many Hollywood flicks like, for example, Nick of Time or If Looks
Could Kill. Some more observant viewers might also spot brief references to Rush
Hour and Mr. Nice Guy in a couple of fight sequences. I myself also noticed,
perhaps an unintentional connection to an old French comedy film entitled Le
grand blond avec une chaussure noire (The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe)
about an ordinary guy who at the airport is mistakenly taken to be a spy, just
like Baadshah.
Moreover, there is one more important reference to reality,
put in the movie knowingly or unknowingly by the makers. Namely, let’s take a
careful consideration of the character of the Chief Minister of Goa. An
uncompromising woman with her quest against corruption and political stagnation,
who eventually becomes the symbol of admiration for the poor and who later is a
target of a conspiracy devised by her most trusted associates? It sounds like
Indira Gandhi to me.
All in all, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who
feels bored or a bit low and would like to improve his or her mood. This is
indeed an appropriate picture to have a good laugh and experience some fine
mainstream Bollywood-style entertainment with lots of goofs, plot twists,
dancing, and action. Even if you’re not a fan of SRK, Baadshah definitely won’t
let you down!
Overall score: 7/10
Nice movie
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