Just Nawazuddin Siddiqui is not
sufficient to save a film. Even if it is the noir he is very familiar with and
has an author backed role seeped in self-deprecation and cynicism. What
palpably is angst takes a voyeuristic road map to the Gangs of Wasseypur. The
needless dollops kill smooch and sex in the midst of a weak attempt to tell a
story of the conflict between two professional assassins begins to tell on your
nerves all too soon. An audience that cannot put things in context add to the
ills of the film. Sex too like violence displayed without purpose does not make
for a good film, surely when it as an apology for a script. To those who
believe that some hot scenes, some moments of gender equal sexuality, cuss
words shoot outs and rough terrain language makes for good or bold cinema, this
could be an interesting eye opener that these are self-defeatist lickspittle to
the cause.
Our Babumoshai in the first place is far removed from the image you conjure up
and connect to the name. Remember Dr. Bhaskar? In contrast, he is Babu Bihari
(Nawazuddin) a contract killer, who loves his job (a curious case of the
character being more like the actor than vice versa!!) in some geographical
place on the same latitude as Wasseypur with a coquettish brazen defiance. From
openly ogling at the local cobbler Phulwa (Bidita Bag) to just being trigger
happy with consummate ease, he is just everything seamless and yet in control.
He is the go to guy For Sumitra (Divya Dutta) who is having her beedies and
buddies including Trilock (Murali Sharma). There is a huge civil war going on
between Sumitra and Dubey (Anil George – who just fails to whip up enough
negativity to be the villain). Things hot up when Banke Bihari (Jatin Goswami)
the under payed assassin joins the war front. Banke is sleeping with Yasmin
(Sharadha Das) and ogling at Phulwa. Soon everyone is sleeping with everyone –
nay having orgies or indulging in some form of sex with someone else. In the
rest of the time people are killing one another all without a background or a
purpose. Any way if there be any, it is all lost in the backdrop of excess sex
guns and gallies.
The cast fights hard to salvage the film the likes of Mukul Sharma and Divya
Dutta try to give some meaning to the film. Bidita Bag gives the film more sex
than passion and sure heats up the goings on. Nawazuddin can sleep walk this
role and does it with near perfection that is expected of him. The surprise
element in the film is Jatin Goswami who shares screen space with Nawazuddin
and is not overawed – a la Sanjeev Kumar when he shared space with the likes of
Balraj Sahani and Dilip Kumar in Sungrush. This guy is worth taking seriously
for the future.
Otherwise this Bandookbaaz is just too much of rifle and gun.
L. Ravichander.