Cast:Ranbir Kapoor, Pallavi Sharda, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh
Director:
Abhinav Kashyap
SPOILERS AHEAD
A slick, unabashedly lowbrow entertainer,
Besharam is, true to the title, absolutely unapologetic about its intentions.
Like
it or lump it, it is a film that is packaged smartly enough to be able
to paper over for its obvious flaws, most of them at any rate.
It
has no story worth the name, and its oddball characters are facile
caricatures that turn more and more bizarre as they hurtle towards a
protracted and action-packed climax that turns out to be far and away
the most enjoyable part of the film.
Most of the comic gags that
Besharam
conjures up hinge on the film’s pivotal casting coup. The idea of
playing the mercurial Ranbir Kapoor off against the spirited pair of
Rishi and Neetu Kapoor (in the guise of ageing Delhi cops married to
each other) offsets the deleterious effects of the duller moments.
There
is much in the film that does not quite click into place. The
implausible tale of bumbling cops, a cool car thief, his pretty lady
love and a brutal
hawala operator surrounded by a posse of
grotesque henchmen takes ages to gather momentum. And even when it does
get going, it is riddled with gaps of logic to huge to bridge.
But
with Ranbir Kapoor going out of his way to live up to the moniker that
the film bestows on his character, writer-director Abhinav Singh
Kashyap’s second venture turns out to be yet another action comedy
rooted firmly in the tradition of commercial Hindi potboilers of an era
gone by.
Lest you miss the connection, Rishi Kapoor’s character
in this film is called Chulbul Chautala. And sure enough, when the
pot-bellied police inspector is down for the count, the gloating hero
reminds him that every Chulbul cannot be a
Dabangg.
The male protagonist, on his part, is quite a
dabangg
though: a glib talker, an incorrigible stalker, and a suave,
larger-than-life rocker who can sway and swerve his way out of trouble
without getting his knickers into a twist.
He is a
lollypop-sucking car thief who answers to the unlikely name of Bubbly
and that is exactly what the man is. No, he isn’t vintage champagne, but
he is full of beans.
He has no surname because he has no parents.
Pyaar, he declares grandly, is the only
hathyar that he needs to get what his heart desires.
He
is unapologetic about what he does for a living and can out-punch and
outrun any number of hoodlums, but he is mortally afraid of canines.
And, if you find his ways funny, that is all you really need to know
about this man without a surname.
Abhinav Kashyap delivers the
plot and character details only in broad sweeps, never pausing to let
little things like psychological nuances get in the way of his defiantly
goofy storytelling style.
His script provides no insights into
the motives of the hero except for the fact that he grew up in an
orphanage and resorts to illegal acts simply in order to fund a bunch of
castaways.
Bubbly’s life goes into a tailspin when he espies a
pretty girl, Tara Sharma (Pallavi Sharda), the spoilt daughter of a
middle class widow, and flips head over heels for her.
He makes a
pass at her outside a wedding venue. The girl gives him a piece of her
mind. Yet the thick-skinned Bubbly not only follows her into the banquet
hall but also sings and dances with her.
Bubbly worms his way
into the heart of Tara’s mom and continues to pursue the girl without
let. He barges into her office by bribing the security guards and
proposes to her. Tara humiliates her and throws her out of the building.
On the way out, Bubbly and his pal, Titu (Amitosh Nagpal), escape with a brand new car that turns out to be Tara’s.
All
hell breaks loose when Bubbly learns what he has done. He decides to
get the stolen vehicle back from under the nose of the man it has been
sold to, the dreaded Bhim Singh Chandel (Jaaved Jaaferi), Punjab’s
undisputed hawala king. But that is easier said than done
If
Besharam
does not lose its wheels completely, it is primarily because Ranbir
Kapoor plays to the gallery without the slightest sign of inhibition.
The star even does a repeat of the
Saawariya towel act – this time around without the towel and in a water tank that doubles up as a bathtub.
Newcomer
Pallavi Sharda does a fairly good job of looking blissfully beatific
and overtly offended by turns. The screenplay does not give her much
else to do.
The Rishi-Neetu double act certainly has its moments, especially when the pair gets to share space with Ranbir.
Besharam, rambunctious and robust, does not offer much by way of narrative novelty. But like
Dabangg, it sets a crackling pace and does not flinch from the prospect of going over the edge in its pursuit of cheap thrills.
Watch
Besharam
primarily for Ranbir Kapoor and the zany climax in an old-world
warehouse where the ghosts of many Hindi movie heroes of yore are
invoked.
