BAB is such a slumber-fest you’d die yawning! OK, it’s the most pathetic opening line for a review, nevertheless! I tried so hard to stay awake during this half-baked, half-hearted yawnathon caper about a conning duo that my eyes have dried out and now I am sleep-deprived. But that’s all ok because the do-gooder that I am, I had the best interests of my friends at Mouthshut. Be warned amigos, this movie is real shark bait. But the sharks wont touch it coz it’s sooooo boring.
Bunty aka Rakesh (Abishek Bacchan) and Babli aka Vimmi (Rani Mukerji) run away from home with rich dreams of making it big outside of their small towns. They come together perchance and embark on a cross-country conning mission. That’s the story in one line and that one line is the story!! The rest of the movie is just their inane antics and most unadventurous escapades, swindling, scammming and conning people. Of course, their Robin Hoodesque (??) largesse of looting the rich to give to the poor rights every wrong. Wrong! Because a badly dressed, dishevelled cop Amitabh Bacchan, (inspector/dharoga/ constable of Patna/Lucknow/Chambal---I do not know) is hot on their trail like a bloodhound on a hapless goat. Actually it’s not that hot.
Anyway, cop in pursuit or not, B and B go on undeterred, scheming, scamming, singing duets, getting married and even having a baby on the lam, while the Harayanvi dharogaji goes around using third degree to get accomplices of Bunty and Babli to fess up about their whereabouts. Are you still with me? OK, just asking, read on.
A lot of things about the movie bugged me:
The first thing is none of their schemes seem well-planned, yet they are flawlessly executed. And almost all their scams are shown in one song, yeah like it’s just a breeze to gyp people. And the outrageously ridiculous airplane scenes are truly comical, unintended of course. I can and I will suspend my disbelief for only so long.
The Taj Mahal episode seemed too far-fetched and contrived to evoke any laughs.
Lame dialogue, an eighth grader would have done better in a school-play.
Rani and Abhishek share no chemistry (in this movie) whatsoever. Their romance seems forced and marriage a total farce. Rani looks tired and dumpy, while Abhishek doesnt look like he cares too much. Amitabh is annoying both looks-wise and acting-wise, not a wise move at all for him.
The item number with Aishwarya was totally unwarranted. And she seems to be giving Isha Koppikar some tough competition from the looks of it. From Bollywood’s golden girl to Bollywood’s item girl, Ash has gone a long way.......down!
Raj Babbar, Rameshwari and a compendium of other character artists are wasted in a blink-and-miss roles.
Although most of the ditties composed by Shankar Ehsaan and Loy are peppy and upbeat, only one of them was well-picturised, the Chup Chupke number. The rest of them, although pleasing on the ears, further crippled the pace (huh?) of the film.
Bad script, not well-fleshed out characters, sloppier-than-sloppy joe direction --- enough handicaps to keep the janta away! Is this the same Shaad Ali that CCP’ed Mani Ratnam’s ’’Alai Payuthey’’ and ’made’ Saathiya? If it is, then he should wait for some other talented director to make a hit film and hack it, instead of torturing us with his attempted originality!
Go ahead, give it a miss--- you wont miss anything. And will save yourselves a couple hours to get on the internet and do something useful!