‘Babli Bouncer’ Review: Madhur Bhandarkar’s Comedy-Drama Only Makes You Laugh When The Film Ends!
My film taste has evolved significantly over time. And, to quench my content thirst, the OTT platform offers a plethora of options. Among all of it, comedy is one genre where I think long and hard before choosing a film, because, let’s face it, it’s a difficult genre to master. Making someone laugh is not everyone’s cup of tea, and the film Babli Bouncer tries rather too hard at it. Oh, I had no choice but to get right to the point. You ask, why? Because Madhur Bhadharkar’s comedy-drama starring Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead role provides me nothing much to work with. Before I get into the specifics of the film, I’d like to point out that the entire film, which is based on the life of a female bouncer, made me wonder one thing: how is everything going so flawlessly for her, and why am I able to predict it? Not to confuse you further, let me take you through the plot of the film and then the rest.
The Plot, Or Maybe A Series Of Events?
Okay, so Babli Bouncer is based in a village in Haryana where most of the men are bodybuilders. Well, the first scene will actually remind you of Sultan, but hold on to that because here’s where the plot differs. The body-builders or rather pehelwaans from this village are actually bouncers in Delhi’s posh club and they travel back and forth to Delhi every day for this night job.
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Now comes the introduction of the female lead, Tamannaah Bhatia as Babli, the village’s girl heartthrob who is bold, fearless, and has no qualities of a girl whatsoever. I don’t say this, but Babli’s mother does, often. The audience does get a sneak peek into Babli’s action skills right away, but we do need a proper background, right, so we have to sit through a whole 2-hour film to find out. Moving on, Babli has no real life goals other than being interested in bodybuilding because her father is a trainer, so umm, as expected her parents decide to give her one. And that is to become someone’s wife! But, but Babli isn’t quite ready for that because she gets inspired to make something of herself when a tall handsome guy, Viraj, played by Abhishek Bajaj, comes into her life and completely blows her mind. There is a reference to Kabir Singh in the film as well, but I am glad that Babli did not turn out to be anything like him, except for unconditional love. Out of the ek-tarfa pyar, Babli uses 100 percent of her brain to fool an innocent guy into thinking she loves him and then uses him to get a bouncer’s job in the same Delhi club as the other guys in the village. Babli gets her parent’s permission to do the bouncer’s job and travels to Delhi every day but she is not content, because she still cannot meet Viraj!
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So, again Babli tricks her parents with her devious plans and shifts to Delhi. Ab kya hona hai? Will Viraj accept her love and give her the same back? Well, well you will have to find it out for yourself but the movie does not end here because apparently, Babli Bouncer’s real life in this profession starts in the second half of the picture. There are different events that happen at the club Babli is working in, and this woman bouncer proves herself on every occasion. In the end, she becomes the “hero” of her village and is awarded for her bravery. Babli Bouncer’s journey gives a hriday-parivartan to her village folks and by the end of the film, the ones who were calling her a disgrace to the village because she worked as a bouncer, suddenly start to hail her. The events that added to this change of heart do not really connect with each other. As I said before, they are different events just joined together to make the second half of the film.
Characters And Their Worth In The Movie
Sabse pehle, talking about the protagonist of the film, Tamannaah Bhatia as Babli, she is a girl whose most annoying habits are that she burps loudly, eats too many parathas, does not know how to make round rotis, cannot speak English, and has not passed her 10th yet, even after 5 attempts! The negatives are per society, Babli’s mother, and Viraj. For me, the most irritating habit about her was whenever she said, “I am funny, I am very very funny.” Someone should have seen my face here, it was legit expressionless, and I did sign up for a comedy film, apparently. So Babli’s change in personality happens only when some love drama in her life does not go as per plan. Babli decides to learn English and clear her 10th exams. She successfully does both, BTW. As a bouncer, Babli’s skills include hand-to-hand fights, talking her way out and umm, that’s it. How do I talk more in-depth about this character when there’s nothing, really?
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Saurabh Shukla plays the role of a supportive and understanding father. This character has been written just to give compensation to Babli for her mother, played by Supriya Shukla. Supriya can be seen playing a mother who is always disappointed in her daughter because she possesses no quality of a girl. Well, that’s all you will remember about these two characters.
Now, talking about the two guys with whom Babli basically has a love triangle. Abhishek Bajaj, who plays the role of Viraj and who Babli loves with all her heart until she decides to term it as “infatuation”. The other guy is played by Sahil Vaid AKA Kuku, who loves Babli. Viraj does not know how to respect individuality and Kuku is very much hopeful about things in life. Yes, the innocent guy tricked into thinking that Babli will marry him is Kuku. Both these boys are just there to make Babli realise the thin line between love and infatuation.
Also Read: ‘Brahmāstra’ Review: Ayan Mukerji’s Spectacular Astraverse Rocked Our World. Ranbir-Alia Chemistry, Not So Much
Music
Well, the music of the film is composed by Tanishk Bagchi and Karan Malhotra, does not really stay with you for long. Your mind erases the memory of it, just like the plot of the film.
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Also Read: ‘Dahan: Raakan ka Rahasya’ Ep 1 Review: This Occult-Meets-Logic Series Led By Tisca Chopra, Saurabh Shukla Has A Promising Start
Final Verdict
See, Babli Bouncer highlights an interesting profession but from the lens of a female, so the thought’s there but the poor script and execution present us with a disastrous final product. I was disappointed with the fact that the makers decided to write such a convenient story about a woman who was the first bouncer from her village. She faced no complications and difficulties at all, except one, that too in love, well I would not consider that a major issue. How do you expect an audience to digest all of it when clearly our expectations are way too high these days because there is no shortage of content in the world? Talking about the genre, which is comedy. The film tries way too hard with the dialogues and scenes to make its audience laugh but it was sadly a failed attempt. If you ask me, the only time I laughed and smiled was after leaving the theatre. Anyways, the actors have very little to showcase when it comes to their skills because all the characters are too bland and unexplored to the best of their abilities. As for Tamannaah, her Haryanvi accent was the one fine thing that she could master to some extent, her comic timing was not appealing. She did not have many emotions to show in the movie but I did like her action sequences. Overall, considering the three main aspects of a good film- plot, acting, and character development, this movie is a big no-no for me in all three.
The movie will release on September 23, Friday on the OTT platform Disney Plus Hotstar and if you have got some spare time, you can give Babli Bouncer a try, otherwise, it’s okay, you will not be missing much!
