‘Baadshaho’ Review: Do We Roll Our Eyes, Or Laugh at This Mess?

Baadshaho movie review: This ridiculous Ajay Devgn film has no business even touching the topic of the Emergency.

Photo Courtesy: Movie Poster altered by The Quint

The year is 1973; and we’re somewhere in Rajasthan. A queen (Illeana D’cruz) is showing off her family wealth to a bespectacled politician (Priyanshu Chatterji) who bears an uncanny resemblance to a certain Mr Gandhi.

She takes him to a room and points to a large bed. "Ye mere pitaji ka bed hai. Bilkul sheher ke centre point par hai kyunki woh sheher ke dil ki dhadkan sunna chahte the".

We’re given a choice here – either to roll our eyes, or to roll over with laughter. When our rani rejects the politician's advances, he vows to take revenge. He uses his stooges to put her behind bars and confiscate her wealth, during the Emergency.

It is truly atrocious to watch the Emergency being unabashedly used by films to hand their limp tales upon. At least Madhur Bhandarkar 's Indu Sarkar focused on that dark phase of our democracy.

Baadshaho has no business touching the subject even; and the ridiculousness of the makers’ attempt is laid bare for all to see.

Rajat Aroraa's screenplay serves as an artificial flavouring in this protein shake of bulging muscles and brawny brutes. Our rani becomes a damsel in distress and two contenders battle it out to for the post of her knight in shining armour.

Director Milan Luthria sets the stage for Bhavani (Ajay Devgn), to give a few droopy-eyed glares to Vidyut Jamwal. Guns are fired, cars are chased, and plans are hatched. But the lack of anything substantial to hold our attention makes sitting through Baadshaho a painful proposition.

Emran Hashmi and Sanjay Mishra play characters that have no depth or dimension, while Ileana D’Cruz and Esha Gupta bandy around like mere props. Even a Sunny Leone item song fails to jazz things up. And for what it’s worth, even the "action" sequences give us precious little to rave about.

1.5 Quints out of 5

Producer: Abhishek Ranjan

Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan

Camera Person: Abhay Sharma