The right things the wrong way

May 13, 2010 05:06 pm | Updated November 10, 2016 04:43 pm IST

14cp badmaash company

14cp badmaash company

Despite all the trappings of a Yash Raj assembly line film (foreign locations, designer clothes and beach wear), Badmaash Company has a lot of good moments that make it impossible for us to ignore the attempts at exploring the mindscape of India's young and restless — the Buntys and the Bablis or the Bulbuls and the Karans in this case from pre-liberalised India of the early 90s.

Writer-director instantly warms up to us detailing the era the film is set in with a voiceover that reminds us how much things used to cost back then. And how even the simplest of lifestyle choices — like Cola or Pizza — used to draw the line between the rich and the poor.

The film begins rather interestingly with light-hearted banter between the buddies Karan (Shahid), Chandu (Vir Das), Tenzing (Meiyang Chang) and the girl they meet on their flight to Bangkok, Bulbul (Anushka Sharma). Though they are employed to smuggle foreign goods into the country by a local bootlegger, the friends soon become used to the idea of getting anything they liked. And the company they keep inspires the smartest of them to come up with a con job that will make them all rich.

But more than the con, it's the chemistry between Shahid and Anushka that keeps us hooked — the physical and the verbal. That phone call where he pretends to be her father and asks her out is a hoot! Soon, the film prefers style over substance and decides to go all Oceans on a rather simple, uncomplicated con. Naturally, the conscientious father (Anupam Kher) does not approve and the son leaves home, after making it amply clear that he did not want to live chained all his life to one job under the pretext of security. This is the meaty portion of the film, though severely undercooked. Instead of focussing on this central conflict, Parmeet Sethi (who clearly seems to have picked up the right ingredients from his stint in Khosla Ka Ghosla with Jaideep Sahni and Dibaker Banerjee) shifts location and raises the stakes in the con scheme, opting for more style than addressing the substance.

Predictably, success goes straight to their heads and Parmeet, in what has to be the weakest written line ever, makes Shahid say: “I am God”. Tenzing becomes an alcoholic girlfriend beater, Chandu and Karan have ego issues and Bulbul is shocked that her boyfriend would go to the extent of marrying an American to get citizenship!

All of this would have looked much more ridiculous than it sounds but for the affable bunch of actors (Meiyang Chang and Vir Das especially) who bring an iota of plausibility to these exaggerated situations. Anushka is feisty and confidently sexy and it's a nice touch that the girl knows exactly when to take charge and wear the pants in their relationship.

Conveniently, the friends all turn over a new leaf after falling out and Shahid flies all the way back to India to learn his lesson, as his father delivers a speech and collects a souvenir after completing 25 years at his workplace. Anupam Kher really infuses sincerity into this scene despite the weakest of lines and makes it work.

The restraint in the performances is really the redeeming factor of Badmaash Company . The film never really tries its hand at melodrama, keeping it real for most parts. Yes, it's a very wannabe Jaideep Sahni script (with influences from Bunty aur Babli to Rocket Singh to Khosla Ka Ghosla , it has a heart that beats for middle-class values) but the good news is that Yash Raj Films is finally looking at the right kind of space it wants to be in. Either that or Uday Chopra does not like anyone else in the family doing wannabe Hollywood romantic comedies.

Like New York , Badmaash Company is another film that desperately needed lesser money and more character, more substance and less style. A few drafts more and this Company would've reached its potential.

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