The one good thing Babumoshai Bandookbaaz manages to do is to make you want to revisit Gangs of Wasseypur and rave a little more about it. Yes, this Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starer bears a certain resemblance to the dusty, blood thirsty terrain Wasseypur that made us sit up and notice the actor.
But it is such a poor version of that amoral universe conjured up by Anurag Kashyap that you’re left hungry and disappointed by the end of this bland buffet.
Nawaz takes centre stage as a gun-trotting bounty hunter, regularly, systematically, and readily killing rivals of a local politician. As usual our Bandookbaaz is further armed with curt one-liners he now routinely mouths for applause without a fuss.
And then it starts... Our wait for the story to lead us to some meaty cliffhangers to hold our attention and arouse curiosity, but to no avail. ‘Babumoshai Bandookbaaz’ squats on its haunches and lacks both the will and momentum for anything. It just seems too full of itself.
Trigger-happy Babu and his bandook meet Banke Bihari, another bounty hunter. Their union starts off with some harmless bounty hunter bonhomie, but soon escalates to sinister motives. The film’s greatest flaw is its inability to etch out even a single memorable character.
All characters and their motivations seem reallt confused, and while director Kushan Nandy tries hard, the stagy treatment is a let down.
There is no dearth of talent though. Nawaz is at ease, it's a role up his alley and he does make it his own. Jatin Goswami as Banke is also impressive. Bidita Bag does a fine job of capturing Phulwa's raw sensuality and Divya Dutta as a scheming politician is at the top of her game too. But the story never really comes together.
The violence, although not shown in all its graphic detail, and the liberal use of cuss words would have been far more impactful had we been invested in the characters.
Babumoshai Bandookbaaz remains stubbornly unremarkable till the end which isn't something we expect from a Nawaz film.
2 Quints out of 5.
Video Editor: Rahul Sanpui
Cameraperson: Athar Rather
Producer: Abhishek Ranjan
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