A person’s film review is usually based on what you see in a film and what your expectations of the film were prior to watching it. Expectations are built mainly from the television promos, music, caste and the production house behind the film and mainly reviews by other filmgoers, critics, journalists, trade analysts and friends and family.
Thus when majority of the above give favorable reviews to a film there are more chances of you liking it as well ,atleast the layman in me would ‘try’ to like it and vice versa. Sometimes when the reviews are not so positive you expect to’not like’ the movie or get bored by it, however thats when a decently made film takes you by surprise.
I had close to zero expectations from Badmaash Company and expected to get bored especially in the 2nd half, as per most of the reviews but I did not feel bored. The first half I though was breezy enough and 2nd half although a bit repetitive didn’t feel bored much. The settings of Mumbai of the early 90s was quite well done. The story is quite ‘hatke’ from the regular stories you expect and the actors fitted the part , all the 4 including Shahid Kapoor, Veer Das, Meiyang Chang and Anushka Sharma were quite well suitable for the roles they enacted. Perhaps Anushka Sharma was the producer’s choice rather than the directors, but she looked good enough to be there, although needs serious improvement in her speech. The film has a simple story about those 4 guys who use their little tricks and con jobs to earn lots of money and then the money goes to their heads and ultimately they realize their folly and then all is well that ends well. Several sub-plots in between muddle the story a bit but overall the message was quite clear and a bit obvious.
Anushka Sharma acts as a bindass north Indian girl and looks modern enough for the part, Pawan Malhotra is decent and the Jameel Khan as the ‘smuggler’ boss is very apt. Anupam Kher’s and Kiran Joneja’s plot acts as a bit speed breaker and is too cliched. Veer Das and Chang were apt for the kind of roles they were selected, Chang has a face and personality which can make him the modern day ‘Danny’ but he has to be careful with the roles he select. Shahid Kapoor is natural, hams a bit and sometimes is too eager to do something but overall is quite restrained and carried the film nicely on his shoulders.
Technically the film is quite glossy and ‘good looking’ thanks mainly to the yashraj banner. The cost of production is lavish and appealing.The film falters a bit in its direction and editing part a bit, perhaps due to the fact that the director Parmeet Sethi is new and is also the story and script writer and a bit overenthusiastic at times. But with right experience he would improve and hopefully his next film would be a much better polished product. The music isn’t the blockbuster kind but most of the songs fit the situation and has a youthful appeal. The entire film is targeted towards the youth and going by the decent box office performance the youth have liked it as well.
My Ratings 7/10. Watch it, you wont feel bored.
Station of Disorientation 