Badmaash Company may take the tribe of moviegoers to hit the nostalgic note, when the likes of Manmohan, Mc Donald and the date with foreign shores were in short supply. That apart the emotional connect with the flick can’t be traced.
Strays, limps and comes back to life at the end. The year captured is 1994 - smitten by Amitabh-cum-two channel filled doordarshan. From here on Badmaash Company struggles as it carries on the strength of a period largely defined by high import duties. This opens a new front for the gang of four (Karan, Zing, Chandu and Bulbul) to hit the Bangkok firmament back and forth.
Standard, the model of the car, black and white edition, the TOI’s strength, and the cities of Madras, Calcutta, Bombay very much in circulation before they were renamed. Manmohan Singh’s declaration of a drop in the import duties to a new low brings to a halt to their Thai odyssey. Stumped, the gang of four gets on to a new bandwagon, the US; the new moolah raking destination with enough rope being given by Jaju mama. As the promos conveyed, there were tales within tales for conning effort to continue unabated. They were out to con people, with laxity in the US law all showing up. The tools employed to fix the system are old age ones; imprints of ingenuity are few and far.
The flick struggles further in the US-backed plot where the gang of four splits and reunites after much reels have been wasted for a redemption that Karan is seeking. Well, there is nothing as sweet as honesty and all padded up with this flicker of strength, Karan seeks the company of the three. The plot wavers, the numbers not strong enough except the Chaska and fakira, the effort in showing up ideas as a magic wand is a mindless one. Well the stock market, the consumers and the cops have been shown to be patent followers of the hype-cum-bait thrown by Karan - and there it hits a new low.
It all looks staid given the territory the plot moves where the authorities are the first to fix the rut .
A star cast that failed entirely to do justice; a plot that meanders to no effective platform; and the various con acts done with no brawny ideas. The chemistry between Shahid and Anuksha doesn’t add up either.
Except for the Prada the tiger that makes an appearance in Housefull, there is one Prada here as well, the store. The similarity ends there itself.
Puneet Rajhans