“Where are you from?” Chandu asks Bulbul, a fellow carrier (ie smuggler) who he has just met at the airport, while staring at her chest.
“They don’t talk,” she replies in a huff.
Hahaha…it might illicit a laugh or two and Badmaash Company can be considered entertaining by the pathetic and desperate like me but it is a tired film, with a tired Shahid Kapoor trying to relive his Kaminey moments and an even more thakki huee Anoushka Sharma who is dull despite her constant naval baring attempts at exciting the audience. The rest of the main cast, the band of brothers that make up this Badmaash Company, are Chandu (Vir Das) and the Chinese looking Zing (Meiyang Chang) who will be a great Bollywood replacement for Danny Dezongpa.
Anouska’s attempt at replicating Aishwarya in Dhoom 2 fails, miserably!
The story is no great shake. Boy graduates. Father wants boy to do MBA. Boy rebels and wants to make quick, easy money. Boy makes quick, easy money and knocks up girlfriend. Boy gets filthy (and) rich, thinks he is god, pisses girlfriend and friends off, is left alone. Boy sings sad song. Boy repents his sins. Boy marries girlfriend, wins back friends and developes a white collar business, now making his parents proud. Boy lives happily, sings happy song and calls parents to live happily ever after in a mansion in USA. Happy ending.
There are moments that make this film bearable but almost none that make it memorable. The very brief clip of Michael Jackson’s HIStory concert was a high point for me. Other than that it was an attempt to relive the camaraderie of films like Dil Chahta Hai and 3 Idiots, the post college dilemma of Wake Up Sid and the bad assness of Kaminey albeit in a cutesy way. Not possible? Yeah, it wasn’t!
(Neverthless, in the absence of too many options, count your blessings and be grateful that you can go to the cinema and enjoy a film. BC is playing at Nishat in Karachi, a much better and cheaper alternative to the Universe Cineplex!)
