One day…. Maybe someday
soon, we will see a refreshing and reassuring Bollywood Espionage movie that is
action packed from start to finish.
Stuff that most of our aspirations are made of right? Well fasten your
seatbelts and get ready for a ride that has been most strangely named
BABY.
Why BABY you may
ask and the answer will come to you in the voice of Feroze Ali Khan (Danny
Denzongpa) who is the head of a special unit.
This unit is made up of officers who, in the words of Feroze Ali Khan, “Desh
ke liye marna nahin chahte. Desh ke liye
Jeena chaahte hain” (They don’t want to die for their country. They want to live for it).
That simple,
practical and non-jingoistic line pretty much sums up the essence of Baby. A bunch of highly qualified and highly
trained individuals who have been handpicked by FAK to run counter insurgency
operations across the world. From
Istanbul to Kathmandy to Al-Dera (Saudi Arabia), Baby takes us through a thrill
a minute ride across West and South Asia.
Ajay Singh
Rajput (Akshay Kumar) is the main member of this secret team that the
government will disown if caught. Their
current operation involves Bilal Khan (Kay Kay Menon) who is a dreaded Indian Mujahideen
(IM) Leader and has escaped from the clutches of the cops.
To get Bilal
Khan, our heroes have to go through several smaller operations and that is
basically the narrative of Neeraj Pandey’s 3rd directorial venture
(Special 26 (2013) / A Wednesday (2008)) and his 2nd with Akshay
Kumar. And I have loved all 3 of them. There
is no reason to expect any different in the future.
The extent to
which Pandey has kept Baby real has probably been limited only by the market
that he has to address that needs masala to be successful. But despite those limitations, the team
involved in Baby has tried to keep things as real as possible. Whether it is the blood and gore or even the
relationship between Ajay and his wife (Madhurima Tuli) – there is a certain
realism about it.
Pandey is not
afraid to use dialogue that is cut and dry and yet he balances it out with the
odd one that will make the audience break out into whistles and cat calls such
as, “Hum Religion ke column mein bold letters mein “INDIAN” likhte hain” (We
proudly write INDIAN against the column designated for Religion”.
In this mould,
no one comes close to Akshay Kumar as an action hero. AK is ably supported by the experienced
Denzongpa and Anupam Kher. Watch out for
the short role that Tapasee Pannu has to execute which she does with
aplomb. Of course, lets not forget our
neighbours from across the border - Rasheed Naz, Mikaal Zulfiqar & Hassan
Nomaan who are all fabulous.
In simple words,
Baby is the perfect balance between smart humour and attention to detail (sans
a few big booboos that I am choosing to ignore). It couples the requirements of an Indian
audience for some over the top masala stuff with the pragmatism required in an
Espionage movie. Well balanced and well
made. 7.5 on 10. Definitely watch it.
Watch the trailer
on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yu_2nyOP5o
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