The year 2018, has been all about an abundance of Sunny Deol at the movies. He played a vaidya in what felt like a two-hour advertisement for Ministry of Ayush—in Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se . Last week we tried hard to stomach him as the Sanskrit speaking Pandey on the ghats of Varanasi in Mohalla Assi . With Bhaiaji Superhit he returns to UP, with Shiva and Ganga looming large yet again; this time as a don from the badlands who wants a piece of Bollywood, rather have his life memorialised on screen. What aims to tickle the funny bone comes undone, much the same way as last week’s release, owing to writing that is complacent in its own inanity and stupidity.
Initially supposed to release in 2012, shelved for long, the loud action-comedy comes six years too late and the hoariness shows in almost every frame, often betrayed in the lack of continuity from one scene to the other. If the dated, disjointed script wasn’t enough, there is just too much noise—cars crashing, guns blazing and actors shouting out their dialogue as though no one was willing to lend them an ear. Lame jokes—no more 56-inch chest please—abound, lines try too hard to sound smart—“ Nateeje hamare faislon se badal jaaya karte hain ” and we haven’t even come to ditties like ‘ Sleepy sleepy ankhiyan ’ and ‘ Baby jaanleva hai’ .
- Director: Neerraj Pathak
- Starring: Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Ameesha Patel, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade
- Storyline: What happens when a UP don’s path intersects with Bollywood? Nothing spectacular at all.
- Runtime: 2 hours 20 minutes
Every single character is penned like a caricature but without any underlying chutzpah. There are a bunch of talented actors wasted on the sidelines—Sanjay Mishra, Pankaj Tripathi, Brijendra Kala, Jaideep Ahlawat—and another two—Shreyas Talpade and Arshad Warsi in relatively more substantial supporting roles. Deol does what he has done countless times in film after film and ends up seeming a parody of himself. Ditto for Ameesha Patel trying hard to bring on the oomph and Preity Zinta playing a small town girl; in both the cases the effort shows. Bhaiaji Superhit is about these three stars of yore being forced to embrace their own obsolescence. After all, how long can you keep playing on the “ dhai kilo ka haath ” nostalgia? Bhaiaji Superhit also tells the audience to be wary of incorrectly spelt titles that are a camouflage for utterly exasperating, excruciatingly boring films.
