Baby
Hindi (U/A),Cast: Akshay Kumar, Rashid Naz, Danny Denzongpa and Anupam Kher
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Expectations are invariably high when it’s a film by a genius who has delivered two out-of-the-box masterpieces. But this time around, overconfidence fails Neeraj Pandey.
Pandey’s “Baby” has a weak plot of terrorism, which is trampled by a team of unutilised mammoths. Yes, he offers some new terms in the world of terror.
Otherwise, it’s the same old story of undercover agents dealing with nameless extremists. Remember Saif’s “Agent Vinod” or Akshay’s “Holiday”?
The way Neeraj started with “A Wednesday” and the brilliance with which he portrayed Naseeruddin Shah and an equally talented Anupam Kher, people surely knew what he was about to do with Akshay Kumar and Manoj Bajpai in “Special 26”.
But retaining Anupam for the third flick, with Akshay — and adding an utterly unutilised Kay Kay Menon — brings only dollops of disappointment this time. Often, roping in critically acclaimed stars doesn’t give the best results, particularly, when attention to detail, or continuity, is glaringly inconspicuous.
Sample this: Akshay gets a few scars on his face in a blast, and with every passing day, they turn fresh and wet!
A poor background score and underutilised international stars, including Rashid Naz, don’t help either.
What merits a mention are the locations, dialogue and cinematography.
The next time Pandey works with Akshay or Menon, hope he keeps in mind that viewers expect action and acting from these two gentlemen, besides a gripping story rooted in substance and cloaked in entertainment.
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