There are two types of movies(irrespective of language or genre), one that leaves an impact on you and the other that does’nt. BB very easily qualifies for the later with its inane comedy, its poorly etched out characters, lax editing, obscure presentation of a promising theme and some lackadaisical acting by the’stars’. Of particular note is Akshay’s performance which borders on the insane. If that was the intention of the casting, then I definitely will rate Akshay top marks. As a psychiatrist he is shown to be in dire need of treatment himself. The comic moments pass muster and border on the vulgar with not so oblique references to the human anatomy.
I had watched both the Malayalam and the Tamil versions of this movie and I am appalled at the treatment meted out to the script in BB. What is more shocking is that Priyadarshan who directed the original hit Malayalam version has committed’harakiri’ with BB.
Vidya Balan is wasted in a role that held so much promise and got full justice from her counterparts viz Shobana and Jyotika in the earlier versions. Vidya has barely any scene longer than 2 minutes. Her dance in the finale which should have been a gripping event turned out to be yet another comic effort, quite unintentionally, I am sure.
Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Asrani and the rest of the support team are mere props with no meaty dialogues or characters to make their presence felt. Ameesha Patel looks and is lost in her tiny role. Akshay and Ameesha’s romantic liason happens in the last 2 minutes of the movie, so don’t expect any running around the trees from this couple. Shiney Ahuja(the first time I see him on screen) screams, rants, raves, rationalises very sincerely but fails to impress. Don’t blame him as he too is lost in the overall meaningless proceedings.
Vineet looks fat and puffed up as against his trim and slim version in the Tamil version. He gets his few minutes of claim to fame among the other non-descript characters. Akshay shows that he is Priyadarshan’s lucky mascot by taking the lion’s share of the screen despite arriving quite late in the story.
I would strongly recommend those who have not seen Chandramukhi and Manichitrathazhvu(the Tamil & Mallu versions respectively) to see it and get a feel of what BB could and should have been.