Babumoshai Bandookbaaz Movie Reviews

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is a violent drama filled with terrific dialogues, engaging sequences and fab performances, led by the always brilliant Nawazuddin Siddiqui. If you have taste for gritty gangster drama, with a sprinkling of dark humour, then this Bandookbaaz is for you.

…as engaging as the film is, it is alarmingly high on violence and cusswords and so those repelled by gore and explicit language are better off skipping this one.   

Be warned, this one belongs to the Gangs of Wasseypur genre where everyone is trigger-happy.

…if you took out all the characters and crime-history from Gangs Of Wasseypur, you’ll come close to this. Given what a masterpiece Gangs was, that’s a pretty good compliment by the way!

Overall, the major asset of the film is that it succeeds in maintaining interest and suspense despite obvious foreknowledge of the outcome.

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz was almost house full, and in a bigger hall too! Whether or not I like the film, that a non-standard film gets its chance with the audience makes this festive season even brighter. And this one does it despite being dark to the core.

My problem with this kind of film is the desensitizing effect it tends to have on us with regards to crime and killings. So many shootouts, such scant regard for consequence.

It’s a film pretending to be a stylishly raw gangster saga originated in the interiors of the Hindi heartland, but in reality, it’s nothing more than another attempt to look at the crime prone lower strata of society through a rose tinted glass. Sadly, Babumoshai Bandookbaaz never pierces our hearts.

Watch it if you are a fan of this genre, but don’t expect it to be another Wasseypur.

Kushan Nandy’s most ambitious and technically his best film. The fascination to the radicalism of Anurag Kashyap is evident, there is nothing wrong in getting inspired but Kashyap had a clear point of view in GOW and RAMAN RAGHAV 2.0. Even after accepting its gimmicks, sensationalisms and hinterland exotica, the point of view behind BABUMOSHAI BANDOOKBAAZ is not clear, is it a black comedy on sharp shooters, or a morality lesson that crime doesn’t pay?

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, flawed though it is, comes as manna to a starving film buff in what must certainly be the worst year for Bollywood in the decade so far. It could have been better, of course, but it is fun enough to be forgiven its follies and indulgences.

Nawaz is fully immersed in his role; as is Goswami. The banter between Babu and Banke makes you smile. And then you are back to the film playing out the beats of the genre. It’s all there, but we’ve seen it all, or variations of it, before.

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz has only good performances to watch else the film is surely not worth your ticket price. Since there are two other big releases this Friday, pick this one only if you are an ardent Nawazzudin Siddiqui fan, because the film holds not much surety to entertain you.

Siddiqui is in command here be it as the hitman or the passionate lover but there is only so much he can do in a film which for all its activity of backstabbing and killings gradually begins to lose momentum. Babumoshai Bandookbaaz sticks to the crime drama template of guns, girls, sex and foul language, but ultimately like its hero runs short on ideas to keep the viewers hooked.

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz hurtles towards an insipid, unintelligible climax, which includes a bout of Russian roulette between two adversaries. It is, in the end, much ado about nothing because the outcome of the life-and-death contest is as predictable as everything else in the film.

Years from now, unfortunately, this film will only be searched on YouTube as ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz hot scene’. Even if you’re free on this weekend, sleep at home rather than sleeping in cinema halls.

The film won’t be remembered for Nandy’s direction or Ghalib’s plot.Babumoshai Bandookbaaz will be remembered as Nawazuddin’s worst film yet.

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz has a fine story, but is executed with so much sleaze that you just come away wondering why a fine actor like Nawazuddin Siddiqui needs to stoop so low.