Babumoshai Bandookbaaz Hindi Movie Review

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.