Movie: Bachchhan Pandey
Genre: Crime - Drama (Remake of Gaddalakonda Ganesh/Jigarthanda)
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kriti Sanon, Arshad Warshi, Jacqueline Fernandez and Others
Director: Farhad Samji
Produced By: Sajid Nadiadwala
Music: Amaal Mallik, B Praak, Jaani, Vikram Montrose and Ray
Background Score: Julius Packiam
Cinematography: Gavemic U. Ary
Runtime: 149 Minutes (2hrs 29mins)
Story
Myra (Kriti Sanon) is an Aspiring director. She decides to make a film after she gets fired as an assistant director. She starts her research on finding a well known gangster to make a biopic on that person. She comes across dangerous don Bachchhan Pandey (Akshay Kumar) and decides to make a movie on his life. How will she convince him for this? Will Myra make a movie? This forms rest of the story
Artiste Performances
Akshay Kumar is scary as Bachchhan Pandey. His performance as a menacing don is stunning. He gives his usual best in flashback episodes and excels in the emotional scenes towards the end.
Kriti Sanon is beautiful and delivers an excellent performance. She will definitely impress the audience in emotional scenes and few crucial scenes
Jacqueline Fernandez as Pandey's love interest is cute and does a good job in her extended cameo appearance. Arshad warsi steals the show and Pankaj Tripati engages with their comedy.
Pandey's gang is great. Rest of the cast are Ok.
Plus Points
Akshay Kumar as Bachchhan Pandey
Protagonist Character change (Kriti Sanon)
Pre Interval Episode
Mass Moments
Entertainment Quotient
Emotional Climax
Background Score
Visuals
Drawbacks (Which I Felt)
Few scenes in first half
Inconsistent narration
No Proper emotional weight for most of the time
Analysis
Bachchhan Pandey is an Official remake of Karthik Subbaraj's Jigarthanda. It was remade into Telugu under title "Gaddalakonda Ganesh".
Movie starts off introducing Kriti Sanon's character and her character's emotional thread. Then movie proceeds towards introducing Bachchhan Pandey. The Build up given and Introdution scene of the character is a Fan feast, Whistle worthy and One of the mass moments in the movie.
From here the narration goes for a roller coaster ride. Arshad warsi comes in and steals the show with his comedy for most of the time. But other than the comedy scenes, movie feels going off track at times which might bore you a bit.
Movie comes back on track at Pre-Interval episode when Myra listens to Pandey's conversations and plan execution using a spy mic. From here till Interval the movie is racy, massy and one of the highlights in the movie.
Second half is engaging with its entertainment quotient. Comedy scenes are well designed with Arshad warsi and Pankaj Tripati that are hilarious
Flashback episode with Pandey and Sophie is good but is narrated in a predictable way. Movie has a problem of uneven pacing. Even the emotional chords aren't hit till the climax. Myra and Pandey's emotional side is ignored till the end. All these will make a few audience feel a bit disconnected.
But the comedy saves the movie here. Kriti Sanon making a trail shoot with Pandey and Pankaj Tripati taking acting classes to Pandey and his gang of goons worked out big time. The whole sequence is humorous.
Pre-climax movie release scene and the following scenes showing Myra's intentions in making the movie differently are shown superbly. Movie's complete emotional weight falls here and it will leave a mark. After a realization and change, it is a happy ending for Bachchhan Pandey's story.
Camera work is top notch and maintains the mood of the story throughout the movie. Music is good but Background score is terrific. Especially Bachchhan Pandey's theme is haunting. Dialogues are Ok.
(MY) Final Word
Bachchhan Pandey adapted the core storyline and made many changes especially changing the protagonist character to a female lead instead of male lead which worked out. Kriti Sanon does a fantastic job and So does Akshay Kumar. He carries the movie on his shoulers for most of the time. Director made sure to make a faithful remake with character and other minor changes but the uneven narration and few unwanted scenes spoil the show for a while. On a whole, Bachchhan Pandey ends up as a decent remake that appeals to audience who enjoy mass flicks and watchable for other set.
Bottomline: Bachchhan Pandey - Mass Entertainment Guaranteed
Note: This is my take on the movie. That is why I am not rating the movie. I respect each and every movie. Making people read my review and influencing them to form an impression on a movie before watching the movie is never my intention. I am a Movie lover too. This is just to express my view on the movie. 😊
Review by a Movie Lover