Baaghi: Nothing Rebellious about this Rebel

Sabbir Khan introduced Tiger Shroff to Bollywood in an impressive “Heropanti” which may not be termed as a classic but it was entertaining and an ideal launch vehicle for a newcomer and giving due credit to Tiger Shroff he did not disappoint us. The same director actor duo comes up with “Baaghi”….hence the expectations are high…

“Baaghi” has slim story line of a rebel Ronny who is sent to Kerala by his dying father to Guruswamy (Grandmaster Shifuji Shaurya Bharadwaj) to be trained in martial arts of Kalaripayattu to discipline his life. On the way to Kerala Ronny meets Sia (Shradha Kapoor) and falls in love. Trouble starts when Raghav ( Sudheer Babu Posani), Guruswamy’s son also falls in love with Sia. Does Ronny get his love and gets tamed by Guruswamy is what the movie is all about….

Story & Screenplay written by Sanjeev Dutta is extremely clichéd and predictable to the core. The love story between the two principle characters which forms the very basis of the story is the weakest without any emotion or chemistry amongst the pair. The love story is filled with clichés and looks dated, and at times the love story is unintentionally funny, like rain being a catalyst to their love. After a point the love story becomes unbearable and the last thing you want to see is the love track. The characters written are extremely sketchy, like why Ronny is rebellious, or why Raghav who is the son of the Trainer Guruswamy becomes so notorious, or the character of Sia’s father who seems to be greedy is never explored properly. The training and action sequences are a direct lift from South Asian movies especially “The Raid”. Rather the training sequences are the only interesting facets of the script but unfortunately it is not explored. Another flaw in the screenplay is, that the sequences are left unfinished, like what happens pre interval or nobody does anything when Guruswamy dies, making no sense. Many characters are introduced but never explored like the child character Subbu who sounded like the child character of “Hatya”. The first half is actually boring and drags….The dialogues also sound very 90’s and dated which pulls down the screenplay yet more….Overall the writing is extremely weak and at the end “Baaghi”  neither is a love story nor a complete action packed movie…

Even the performances do not save the day… Tiger Shroff as Ronny looks like he is repeating his “Heropanti” act, but what worked for him in his debut movie falls flat for him in this movie. He seems extremely uncomfortable in romantic and emotional scenes and looks comfortable only in action sequences. Another flaw is his dialogue delivery which has a heavy English accent; he really needs to brush up his Hindi diction if he wants to survive. Shradha Kapoor as Sia again repeats her “Aashiqui 2”, “Ek Villain” and “ABCD 2” act of a chirpy and girl next door but unfortunately fails this time. I won’t say it was a bad act but then there was nothing new as well, would love to see Shradha in more sensitive roles like that of Arshia in “Haider”. There is absolutely no chemistry between the lead pair… Telegu actor Sudheer Babu who debuts in “Baaghi” as Raghav the antagonist, is the only performance worth watching in the movie, he justifies his menacing act with his portrayal, but it is the writing which pulls down his performance, hope Bollywood gives more chances to Sudheer Babu…Grandmaster Shifuji Shaurya Bharadwaj the commando trainer of the Indian Army makes his acting debut as Guruswamy in this movie, and he does complete justice to his character and his sequences are few of the worth watching sequences of the movie especially the training sequences but unfortunately the screenplay did not give too much scope to his character. Rest of the cast like Sunil Grover, Sanjay Mishra end up hamming instead of acting and are wasted….

Action is the biggest highlight of the movie; action directors Kecha Kammpakdee and Javed Ejaz choreograph the stunt sequence brilliantly and give an international feel, they exploited the core strength of Tiger Shroff to the fullest…

The Cinematography by Binod Pradhan is one of the highlights of the movie…he captures Kerala and Bangkok like a dream…he gives the dreamy hue in the Kerala sequences and gives the gritty feel while capturing the by lanes of Bangkok….

Music is another highlight of the movie….the top three songs would be “Cham Cham” composed by Meet Brothers and rendered beautifully by Monali Thakur, the love ballad “Sab Tera” composed by Amaal Mallik and rendered by Armaan Mallik & Shradha Kapoor and last being “Girl I Need You” another ballad by Meet Brothers and sung beautifully by Arijit Singh…

Sabbir Khan could not salvage the already weak script with his direction; rather Sabbir is extremely weak in emotional quotient which was evident in his previous movies “Kambakt Ishq” and “Heropanti”. Sabbir looks completely confused what he wanted to make, whether a love story or a martial arts action movie….and the confusion is quite evident in the narration…

“Baaghi” is extremely clichéd and Tiger Shroff’s second outing is a BIG disappointment…the end credits where they show the behind the scenes clippings were more entertaining than the whole movie… I will go with “One and a half stars”….

Movie Rating: (1.5 / 5)