Actor Parmeet Sethi turns director with Yashraj's 'Badmaash Company' and makes quite a confident debut. He gets most things right beginning with a decent story in place, a screenplay that moves well and a competent cast. And to top it, he also manages to engage his audience. What more can one ask for from a debutant?'Badmaash Company' takes its inspiration from the get rich overnight mentality, which many term as the malaise of our hedonistic age. The protagonists commit all kinds of con jobs and manage to become multi millionaires, living the high life in the US. But the spiritual rot that has settled in takes its toll and they have to pay back for their overarching ambition. In this dizzy ride to the top, relationships and friendship take a toll and then comes the downfall. But this film is also about resurrection, as the nobility in man also rises to the surface and vindicates himself.
This, of course, is the rough inward plot movement of 'Badmaash Company'. But Sethi touches on this briefly as his film is concerned mainly with the dizzy ride to the top. He spends close to three fourths of his plot on this factor, while the remaining duration of the movie is occupied with the downfall and the resurrection of the protagonist. That probably is the only problem with the movie, and also the reason why it touches and moves one only in bits and pieces.
The first half of the movie has a lot of freshness and vitality about it, as the four protagonists are introduced; they go on their first trip to Bangkok as carriers and plan and execute the first heist of their 'company' to perfection.
Shahid Kapur's romance with Anushka, his relationship with his father, played by Anupam Kher and the actual con job, are scenes which have been superbly executed. This part of the movie is peopled with scenes which have a lot of excitement and fun about them till the venue shifts to the US and the gambling dens of Vegas.
This is when the director introduces discordant elements which fracture the relationship between the members of the Badmaash Company. This is the area where the writing could have been a lot better, and more taut. The camaraderie of the previous scenes suddenly seems to disappear and one suddenly has Shahid's character saying that he feels like God.
One just feels that his growing arrogance and ambition could have been introduced a little more insidiously into the plot, much earlier. That would have made it a little more probable and life like. Without a proper buildup, it feels more like the characters are overreacting and everything seems to be blown out of proportion.
Shahid seems to be compensating for this lack in the script by overplaying, while his supporting actors look a little too low keyed, the result being that the film loses out on the kind of impact that it could have created. After a brief tenure in hell, Shahid's character comes to his senses and, with a little help from his friends, is back in business with the badmaash company.
Shahid leads from the front where the acting honours are concerned. He portrays the various facets of his character very well, tries hard to go beyond the written word and turns in quite a powerhouse performance. He is well supported by Vir Das and Meiyang Chang, who are delightful. This is Anushka Sharma's second release and she delivers quite confidently. Shahid and she manage to share a very charming chemistry on screen.
The veterans in the cast, Anupam Kher, Kiran Juneja and Pawan Malhotra are impeccable as ususal, even though Kher is probably repeating his role of the principled father for the nth time. There is a certain conviction about him which is very telling. His little speech at the award function is quite effective, though a trite over done. But Kher carries it off very well.
Pritam's musical genius seems to be missing in this movie, which sadly seems to lack any chartbuster number. The music is just about ordinary and hardly catchy. But the film makes up in other aspects as it has impeccable production standards. It's been extremely well shot (Sanjay Kapoor), and moves at a decent pace, expect for the last half hour or so.
Sethi can feel happy about this movie as he has done a good job. It makes for quite a confident debut. On a final note, 'Badmaash Company' is a fairly absorbing movie. It has plenty of glitter and polish and has enough entertainment value. A little more soul would have taken it streets ahead…
No comments:
Post a Comment