Bang Bang: My Review

Before I begin, this should not be viewed as a formidable review of a generic, usual Bollywood movie, which had so many expectations. But this post deals with purely my point of view and I reserve the rights to be extremely pathetic in my description of the film.

Even before I entered the cinema hall, ‘Bang Bang’ filled my mind and body. After all, it was a movie which contained two of the most beautiful personalities I have ever witnessed in Bollywood. Plus, it was an official remake of a Hollywood movie, namely ‘Knight and Day’, which I so loved for the fact of mainly Cameron Diaz’s character June, her sexy remarks and for Tom Cruise’s Roy Miller. Coming back to our Bolly remake, I was actually excited and the fact that Fox Star Studios was producing the film, made me equally curious. But all that ended ever since the first couple of scenes, where the main goon is shown munching on pizza (read Pizza Hut) and that too, sitting in a cell in the British Secret Intelligence Service Headquarters. And all my legitimate questions fell down, when his men break into the headquarters to rescue him without any plans or difficulties, as if the headquarters was a local shopping mall. Enter Hrithik’s character. It felt like a redefined scene from Dhoom-2. Incidentally, he is shown as a thief just like in Dhoom 2. He steals the Kohinoor diamond, but obviously I knew his character wasn’t actually a thief as I had already seen Knight and Day and I already knew the plot. Enter Harleen, Katrina’s character whose first scene is set in the shower, when her obnoxiously young-hearted grandmother enters and watches her taking the shower. Everybody in the cinema hall (read boys) obviously wished to be in the place of Harleen’s granny at that moment. Wow! Quite an imagination. Harleen and Hrithik’s Rajveer meet each other in a coffee shop, as Harleen sets herself a blind date through a certain online dating site. Now, this is why Bollywood movies seem insanely unrealistic. A girl in the ranks of Katrina Kaif is shown to be without a boyfriend, hadn’t yet experienced a kiss, and as such had a blind date fixed through a site. So, if a girl like Katrina Kaif doesn’t have a boyfriend, who would? Another irritating fact about Bolly movies is the occasional interruption due to an unexpected song out of nowhere, with random background dancers. But this doesn’t happen in the case of Bang Bang. With Hrithik’s classic moves and a perfectly sculpted physique, added with that jaw-dropping torso, the songs are quite a treat for the eyes. It is for this reason that boys like me aren’t paid attention by girls, as the standard is set so high by humans like Hrithik Roshan. It would be a dream for any boy, including me to own such a human body. In the film, Hrithik’s Rajveer does everything: successfully running away from goons and police, dodging bullets, diving in and out of water, jumping of rooftops and even driving an F1 car in a busy street. In other words, he is shown as a super-hero. For an instance, I almost believed I was watching Krissh-4. The rescue act of Harleen by Rajveer at the end was another let down. If you have seen the Holly original, Tom Cruise’s Roy Miller rescues June so stylishly, that it sounded so sexy when June tells Roy, “You excite me!”. Here, it sounded so lame both because of the boring action sequence, where a part was copied from Dark Knight (those timer bombs that were struck to the walls) and also, because of Katrina Kaif’s annoying accent. She sounds extremely childish.  

If I have to give a rating to Bang Bang, I wouldn’t do that because I am not a film critique. And if comparisons are to be made, besides the resemblances of the scenes and the similarity of the plot, I wouldn’t compare the characters as it would be completely unfair. Tom Cruise is one of the best action movie stars whereas Cameron Diaz was so adorable and sexy in Knight and Day that even though there was little romance between the two, they looked cute together. On the other hand, even though Hrithik Roshan is no doubt one of the best Bollywood actors but no actor can take Cruise’s place in that movie whereas Katrina Kaif is obviously one of the most beautiful girls on the planet, but she couldn’t match the excitement and cuteness of Diaz’s June. Till Bollywood actually manages to make a genuine action movie, rather than destroy remakes, I would be happy to sit back and wait for that day it happens. My advice: Watch this movie only if you haven’t watched Knight and Day.