With all the pre release hoo-ha one expected a thrill-a-minute caper.......why not? The tie ins , the cross promos...- the ’SWIFT ’ connection. the ’NDTV ’ plug - add to it seeing B n B (jr and sr) for the first time on screen .... made it a ’mast’ see, if not a ’must’ see. Packaging - Good. Promotion - Excellent. Distribution- Great.
So what about the Product- ....well the film opens on this out-of-work guy having quick-fix plans to get rich (not the shower fix he makes at home). His dad (Raj babbar from long-lost ) would have none of it and asks him to report for the interview he has arranged- pronto . Son doesn’t listen and puts his (rather long) foot down (and in his mouth) and gets booted . And the MOM , without supporting him with home-ladden ladoos shoos him as well- before you can say Abhishek bachchan he is out on his own.
.....we meet a giggly girl-(rani M.) in outlandish, cleavage -revealing outfits , a wanna-be-be ms. India instead of marrying the match her parents have arranged - so off she goes too .
So far so different? well. if u insist.....but wait ...the two meet at a station- this AFTER realising that the WHOLE world and its mother is against them - and together decide to get to mumbai. Since they are short on the MOOLAH , decide to con their way . .....more reels - or more steals - later reach mumbai and along with it realise that conning is indefintely FUN than roughing it out in the amchi mumbai’s locals, unlike good ol’ mumbaikers - and decide to go back.......to conning that is.
Since they would be (staying ) together....to escape the MORAL cops take this 7 phera at the Taj....no, not the mumbai 5-star , silly, but at Mumtaz’s mausoleum in agra...with this they start conning.....the audiences that is.
Out to rain on their party comes a tough cop - mean, he must be finding it tough to be a cop having to smoke a beedi with all his strength (sorry, but let’s have amitabh of ’khakhee’ anyday who huffs n pants but does not puff ). Anyways Sr. B is out to make their life miserable.
how he catches (up with) them, while they realise that conning is not on and family (planning) is what India needs, but STILL get caught and yet get released (phew!) for good intentions (sic!) , by the by-then bored cop who probably never thought catching them would be so easy forms the film, at least 3 hours of it.... .
...then the REAL story starts....years pass and the cop traces them after they had settled down - AHA!- and wants them to do a caper- INTERESTING... And when you are about to think they would reply a polite ’’Niet, Niet’ to him, they AGREE to it !....... but WHY? - well, bored they are of their humdrum existence of watching’ kyoun ki ..... ’ and ’kahani...’ and its 20-year fast forwards dished out by Balaji and Ekkkta kkkkapoor. And when u think FINALLY something INTERESTING is going to happen , the credits roll in.
Now, if u ask me , what’s the big deal about it?......its has got a lot of publicity . Yash, adi chopra. Full marks to them- for the PR jobs, I mean....and then u have the director shaad ali ( muzaffar’s son who dubbed.....i mean remade the Maniratnam film ’Alaipayuthe’ as ’sathiya’) ; he did have a decent story to tell us, but DID HE?
Well, if you expect B n B to be ’Tracy Whitney’ and ’Jeff Stevens’ of the Sidney Sheldon classic ’If tomorrow comes..’ then you have real hope. I mean the capers, which would make-or-break these kind of films are outright silly. Like selling the Taj Mahal......the few taalis this gets is ’cos a ’GORA’ gets his just desserts for expecting us (Indians) to sell our pride- what I mean is the taalis are NOT for B n B.
Their exploits are not innovative as say the ’back to back’ chess game that Tracy plays with two russian champions or as thrilling as her escape from her first heist (the ’mudpack’ if u remember). The last caper- hiding in an aeroplane baggage cabin - is a straight lift from the novel.
What we have- is a watered down version. For picturising capers you need imagination- and money ; and u have to make it thrilling -by spending. You cant get away by EXPLAINING capers in RAP songs....Showing hero-heroine in slow motion shots in oh-so good looking locales doesnt make a caper. Neither do the 1 a-and -half- kisses between Abhi and (his ) Rani.
Ok, abhi has matured....and has gone from a ’Refugee’ (sic!) into a ’Bunty’. And Rani ?.....sorry but she is THE boo-boo of the film . To know what/how a lovable trickster is watch juhi in ’phri bhi...’ or some of the sridevi movies . U would know what I am talking . And Bachchan (Sr.) is nowhere close to ORGINAL policeman- Daniel Cooper - in the novel.
even the so- called NOVELTY of Bachchan n bachhan together - a meaningless episode for 20 mins to show that the sr. is pref. by (even) young women, with ASH thrown in - is so boring that you feel like telling shaad and/or aditya that they’d better engage a good script writer if they want taalis.
Or they should atleast have watched/ copied old amitabh-manmohan desai films for inspiration on drunken scenes ( Amar- Akbar- Antony, Naseeb, Mard etc) and spend time on the script . Let them not forget -’’If you have a million, spend half of it on a good script and the other half on making it’’ movie moghul Cecille De Melle).
What the movie lacks is probably is what’s-his-name (the character from the novel )who directs both Jeff and Tracy in their capers- suave smart, sophisticated, someone who u wouldn’t connect with the heists; a kind of SUTRADHAR . in one word, an old FOX. Probably Bachchan Sr. in the last frame aspires to be that..but by then one was too tired to appreciate this.
I am not much into this bit about - as some reviews said- the ’social ’ aspects of this film. if/whether this represents the changing face of economy and small towners aspiring for more- or ’inspiration’ for being a thief etc. From a 3 hour odd extra film I expect ENTERTAINMENT...and if it doesn’t have that..i am sorry.
Even the decade old anil-sridevi starrer (yes the super flop -Roop ki rani, choron ka raja- had its moments of thrill. ) B n B sadly lacks the thrill of a Dhoom or the fun of a HERA PHERI. I am not a ’paid’ or ’planted’ movie critic. Movie buff? yes. Gave rs. 80 to see the film. The review is based on this...and all I can say is who were they conning anyway?