Queer magician and criminal mastermind Laila (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) entices super hacker Babloo Ranawat (Tiger Shroff) to join hands with him. Babloo falls in love with Laila’s sister Inaaya (Tara Sutaria) in the process, who for some reason remains unaware that her brother and her beau are criminals for 90 per cent of the film. Babloo creates a type of video game for Laila, which becomes viral in no time. Unknown to people, it’s sponging their bank details. Laila plans to take away everyone’s money at one go. Indian intelligence comes to know of this and an intelligence officer Khan (Zakir Hussain) tries to recruit Babloo to bring down Laila. Babloo is initially hesitant but changes his mind after meeting Amrita Singh’s character, who lost all her money because of his scam. He adopts her as his mother and is now on a mission to avenge his mother and motherland.Some ideas look good on paper and this is one of them. What could be better to cast Nawazuddin into a cross between The Joker from Batman and a queer Bond villain. And then have a super genius, who is also good at fights and stunts, fight against him and his army of goons. Sadly, director Ahmed Khan has made a hash of the execution. The non-linear editing just doesn’t work. We’re at a loss to understand where the film is going. One can easily take a nap in the midst of the film and not miss anything significant. Music and choreography, surprisingly, are the saving grace of this actioner. AR Rahman’s catchy tunes are imaginatively brought to screen. Both Tara Sutaria and Tiger Shroff share a sparkling chemistry and look good in each other’s company during these musical montages. Jalwanuma, in particular, is worth a mention. It’s a Sufiesque ballad and one would never have thought Tiger Shroff would look good in such a song. Both Tara and Tiger emote well here, in keeping with the song’s sombre mood. Perhaps the next Tiger Shroff film should be a proper musical, instead of an action film.
Heropanti (2014) Tiger’s debut film, was a remake of the Allu Arjun starrer Parugu (2008) had an emotional strand running throughout it. Apart from War (2019), Tiger has been guilty of choosing movies which lack a coherent story and screenplay. His directors lazily shoot one action scene after another and loosely attach them together. Such is the case with this one too. Both Tiger and Nawaz come with their own strengths and giving them such shoddy material to play with is a criminal waste of both their talents. Both try hard to rise above the mundane. Nawazuddin is at his campy best and seems to be having a gala time of it all even amongst the worst of circumstances. He says the cheesiest lines with aplomb and is a professional through and through. Tiger Shroff too excels in what he does best. He beats up baddies like a superhero character, takes huge risks doing dangerous stunts and looks good showcasing his washboard abs. We don’t doubt his intensity or his dedication. But we’ve kind of seen these stunts before and would have appreciated some novelty. Tara Sutaria ups the glam quotient of the film by a mile. Her frothy, bubbly character offers some comic relief as well.
All in all, watch the film for its superbly shot songs, Tiger and Tara’s chemistry and Nawazuddin’s campy antics. Just don’t look for a coherent script and you won’t be disappointed.
from filmfares
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