Just finished watching Bhavesh Joshi Superhero. The title of the movie is a good indication of what to expect. Righteousness, vigilantism and justice in a modern urban setting, as well as something for the common urban citizen to connect with. While it does try to do that, it does leave you wanting for more.
Please beware for spoilers. If you intend to watch the film, please read at your own risk.
The trailer was promising. It promised, as I mentioned before, for an action packed thrill ride, with an urban vigilante, justice drama. It reminded me of one of my favourite films, 'Dombivli Fast', and it was ironic to see Nishikant Kamat playing the main antagonist here. The movie is definitely youthful. Taking reference from the drive agasint corruption that Anna Hazare had started, it sets the tone and gives a glimpse into the characters of the three main protagonists. Young, driven and a bit on the wild side. Their first attempt towards vigilante justice is fairly entertaining and yet believable. Their naivity and immaturity is mildly endearing.
However, as naively as they start, the attempt fizzles out. They then set out on their own life paths, except for, Bhavesh Joshi. He still continues his fight for justice and truth. As the film continues, Bhavesh unearths a deep controversy. And this is from where the film starts getting fairly predictable.
The goons and their master Rana (Nishikant Kamat) get Bhavesh Joshi out of the way and stage it as an accident. Siku (Harshvardhan Kapoor) was partly to blame and he goes into dual guilt. One for having abondoned his friend in the quest for truth and justice and second for having given out his identity in a fit of anger. He decides to take on the big baddies and avenge his friend's death.
Vikramaditya Motwane must be given kudos to try put life into an otherwise dull and predictable script. May it be the initial half hour where he sets the stage and the characters in the film, the sequence where Siku goes to identify Bhavesh's body, the sequence where a drunk Siku goes to meet Bhavesh's karate teacher to persuade him to teach him and then the motorcycle chase sequence. You can guage the directors commitment and ability. Even the shots are not overtly indulegnt where I have seen some of the best directors fall prey to.
The actors have all done a good job. Priyanshu Painyuli playing Bhavesh Joshi, Ashish Verma as Rajat, Shreiyah Sabharwal as Sneha, Nishikant Kamat as Rana have all done a good job. There are plenty Marathi stage, TV and cinema actors in the film who provide great support. But I can confidently say Harshvardhan is a promising actor to look out for. He is not just good looking but has been passed on the acting chops by his father. He should capitalize on this and chose the right scripts and explore his talent beyond what his father could (like how Ranbir has been able to even surpassing this grand father).
However the biggest folly of the film is the script. When you say super hero and vigilante, you expect it to be a large canvas. And all the movie ends up feeling like is a revenge story. Well even that wouldn't have been the issue if other glaring holes in the script could have been taken care of. Firstly in this day and age of technology, the script conveniently seems to ignore that someone posting a video online can be traced and tracked. Then the conspiracy in itself was very far fetched and too big to remain under wraps for as long as they showed in the film. Once Bhavesh is killed the way Siku goes on to take his mission forward. The fact that he remains undetected moving around in the city undisguised, using mobile devices and so on after staging his exit to the US (involving an unbelievable sequence where Siku hacks into the departure logs to show he has left the country). And then trying to unearth a scheme that has people from within the highest levels of government involved.
Yes American Superhero films go way more over the top. However they do this in a sort of parallel universe. The problem with Bhavesh Joshi was that it was trying to be both modest and larger than life and in the process ended up being neither. There is intent but then there needs to be clarity of what they are aiming for.
There was a hollywood film, not so long ago, called kick-ass which tried to ground the super hero idea and have grandeur mixed into it. But where it scored was that it did not take itself too seriously and had dark humour peppered in to keep the viewer interested.
Please beware for spoilers. If you intend to watch the film, please read at your own risk.
The trailer was promising. It promised, as I mentioned before, for an action packed thrill ride, with an urban vigilante, justice drama. It reminded me of one of my favourite films, 'Dombivli Fast', and it was ironic to see Nishikant Kamat playing the main antagonist here. The movie is definitely youthful. Taking reference from the drive agasint corruption that Anna Hazare had started, it sets the tone and gives a glimpse into the characters of the three main protagonists. Young, driven and a bit on the wild side. Their first attempt towards vigilante justice is fairly entertaining and yet believable. Their naivity and immaturity is mildly endearing.
However, as naively as they start, the attempt fizzles out. They then set out on their own life paths, except for, Bhavesh Joshi. He still continues his fight for justice and truth. As the film continues, Bhavesh unearths a deep controversy. And this is from where the film starts getting fairly predictable.
The goons and their master Rana (Nishikant Kamat) get Bhavesh Joshi out of the way and stage it as an accident. Siku (Harshvardhan Kapoor) was partly to blame and he goes into dual guilt. One for having abondoned his friend in the quest for truth and justice and second for having given out his identity in a fit of anger. He decides to take on the big baddies and avenge his friend's death.
Vikramaditya Motwane must be given kudos to try put life into an otherwise dull and predictable script. May it be the initial half hour where he sets the stage and the characters in the film, the sequence where Siku goes to identify Bhavesh's body, the sequence where a drunk Siku goes to meet Bhavesh's karate teacher to persuade him to teach him and then the motorcycle chase sequence. You can guage the directors commitment and ability. Even the shots are not overtly indulegnt where I have seen some of the best directors fall prey to.
The actors have all done a good job. Priyanshu Painyuli playing Bhavesh Joshi, Ashish Verma as Rajat, Shreiyah Sabharwal as Sneha, Nishikant Kamat as Rana have all done a good job. There are plenty Marathi stage, TV and cinema actors in the film who provide great support. But I can confidently say Harshvardhan is a promising actor to look out for. He is not just good looking but has been passed on the acting chops by his father. He should capitalize on this and chose the right scripts and explore his talent beyond what his father could (like how Ranbir has been able to even surpassing this grand father).
However the biggest folly of the film is the script. When you say super hero and vigilante, you expect it to be a large canvas. And all the movie ends up feeling like is a revenge story. Well even that wouldn't have been the issue if other glaring holes in the script could have been taken care of. Firstly in this day and age of technology, the script conveniently seems to ignore that someone posting a video online can be traced and tracked. Then the conspiracy in itself was very far fetched and too big to remain under wraps for as long as they showed in the film. Once Bhavesh is killed the way Siku goes on to take his mission forward. The fact that he remains undetected moving around in the city undisguised, using mobile devices and so on after staging his exit to the US (involving an unbelievable sequence where Siku hacks into the departure logs to show he has left the country). And then trying to unearth a scheme that has people from within the highest levels of government involved.
Yes American Superhero films go way more over the top. However they do this in a sort of parallel universe. The problem with Bhavesh Joshi was that it was trying to be both modest and larger than life and in the process ended up being neither. There is intent but then there needs to be clarity of what they are aiming for.
There was a hollywood film, not so long ago, called kick-ass which tried to ground the super hero idea and have grandeur mixed into it. But where it scored was that it did not take itself too seriously and had dark humour peppered in to keep the viewer interested.
There is promise for our cinema with such films but we still have some way to go.
