Baaghi 3 Movie Review: Despite the Kabooms & Shraddha Kapoor’s Censored Abuses, Tiger Shroff’s Action Film Is D…Duh…Dull!

Baaghi 3 Movie Review: There is strange connection between action franchises made in Bollywood and arithmetic progression. As the films get bigger and make more money, the content gets lazier and dumber. Case in point, the Dhoom franchise and Rohit Shetty's zealous Cop Universe (whose 4-minute trailer of its upcoming film, Sooryavanshi, played before the movie I saw today was more entertaining than what came after). Ahmed Khan's Baaghi 3, unsurprisingly, is no exception to this rule, as Tiger Shroff kicks his way through another mindless action fare that makes mockery of both its lead man's talents and our senses. Tiger Shroff's Baaghi 3 Will Not Open in Many Single Screen Theatres in Delhi-UP.

Baaghi 3 is an official remake of the Tamil film Vettai, starring Arya and R Madhavan. Which is to say, like the previous adaptations (Baaghi = Varsham, Baaghi 2 = Kshanam), the plot is merely an excuse for Tiger to flaunt his toned body, flex those muscles and jump from one action set-piece to another.

Not to mention, another opportunity to show how little female leads matter in an action film made in Hindi cinema. At least, Shraddha Kapoor got to kick some ass in the first film, and Disha Patani, despite her one-expressioned act, had a role that mattered in Baaghi 2.

Sadly, in Baaghi 3, if you cut out a returning Shraddha's role from the film, it would make nada difference. At least it would have spared us of the irksome attempts of humour where her character lands in awkward situations to find network. Or her even more grating attempts to utter censored swear words, that our beloved Censor Board further censors up. Or her atrocious performance during an emotional scene, that makes you wonder if Tiger is the better actor of the two.

There is also Disha Patani, who appears in a club number, and whose costumes seem to reflect her Calvin Klein photoshoot. And the less said about a totally underused Ankita Lokhande, the better.

Still interested in knowing what Baaghi 3 is all about? Well, here it is. Since childhood, Ronnie cares for his elder brother Vikram so much that if anyone hits the latter, Ronnie beats the heck out of him. After the death of their cop father (Jackie Shroff), Ronnie becomes more protective of his wimpy brother.

As they grow up, Ronnie (Tiger Shroff) continues to be Vikram's (Riteish Deshmukh) saviour. At the behest of Ronnie and their uncle (a hammy Shifuji), Vikram joins the police force, but it is Ronnie who gets to beat the bad guys on his brother's behalf, while Vikram takes the credit. Ronnie falls for Siya (Shraddha Kapoor), while Vikram gets married to her elder sister Ruchi (Ankita Lokhande).

Vikram's 'exploits' makes the department think he is the right man to be sent to Syria to extradite a criminal IPL (Jaideep Ahlawat), whose businesses have been ruined by both the brothers. After landing in Syria, Vikram is ambushed and abducted by the men of Abu Jalal Ghaza (Jameel Khoury), a dreaded chief of a terrorist outfit. Tiger Shroff Confesses He Had a Crush on Baaghi 3 Co-Star Shraddha Kapoor When They Were in School.

An anguished Ronnie reaches Syria, along with Siya, and attempts to locate Vikram. And the rest is all bone-breaking, building shattering , OTT action material that holds such low stakes, despite the makers selling it as Tiger vs a whole country. Which to be honest, sounds like an (irresponsibly) cool tagline, but makes no goddamn sense! It is just a terrorist outfit, for gosh sake!

The first half uses the template of Vettai, with some lame attempts of humour, including an annoying cameo by Satish Kaushik, and relying on Tiger's one-man show. Even more awkward is the movie's attempts to go meta, like referring to Tiger's debut Heropanti.

Still, the first half was slightly engaging because there was some sort of warmth in the bromance between Ronnie and Vikram. Even Riteish, who seems to have borrowed Sonu Nigam's book of acting from Jaani Dushman, had a meatier role in these portions. But the few attempts to show the police force as this upright taskforce that tackles bad elements without seeing their religion or class, made me chuckle in irony. It may not be Baaghi 3's fault that its release comes right after Delhi police (this movie's first half is set in Agra) is under the radar for its alleged support to Hindutva mobs during the recent Delhi riots. To top it all, there is also a scene that supports extra-judicial killings, because even Bollywood doesn't trust the law and order in the country.

Watch The Trailer of Baaghi 3:

But, despite the niggles, Riteish and Tiger's bhaichara makes the first half worth watching.

It is the second half, which goes straight into Tiger Zinda Hai zone, that turns out to be such a dull affair. Despite the many kabooms and the OTT climax, everything feels so one-note in these portions, thanks to lazy, loophole-laden writing. A poor Vijay Varma, who plays a Pakistani thief in Syria but sounds Hyderabadi, is made to utter lines like 'Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok pe nahi... Tok Tok pe follow karo'. Riteish disappears in vast portions of the film, only to return super-hammy in the finale.

Random things explode, tanks and helicopters appear and disappear at their own will. The antagonist grimaces at every chance given, perhaps at the thought of being another one-note villain that is to be served as a punching bag. The terrorists wastes so much bullets on the hero when he is jumping here and there, that when they get him at point-blank range, they instead attack him with rods. A villain suddenly changes character and sacrifices himself to save innocents, even before you can say, 'Aila'! And I am not even talking that how lacklustre Baaghi 3 is in other departments, like editing, VFX (can't even hide the 'toy tanks') and the (rehashed) music!

In short, just another day watching a senseless action thriller, whose makers think just going all out boom is enough to win the audiences.

That brings me to my biggest grouse about Baaghi 3 and the movies that hire Tiger Shroff as the lead, is how they waste his talents. Yup, despite Tiger's many many somersaults - at one point, he is thrown ahead from an explosion and lands on a flying helicopter that was behind him (sorry, logic!) - Ahmed Khan, who also takes credit for action design, couldn't really figure out how best to use Tiger's martial arts skills.

It is but obvious that Tiger is no great shakes at acting, and his many 'emoting' scenes in Baaghi 3 won't change your opinion at all. To be fair, I don't really care at all. (The late) Bruce Lee, Tony Jaa and Jet Li, are exemplary in martial arts but aren't great actors. Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen are exceptions, but that's rare. I am not expecting Tiger to win a National Award (and neither does his fans), but give him something challenging enough. Learn from how films like Ong Bak and The Raid franchise choreograph their action scenes, that feel it has real stakes and believable fighting, instead of blindly copying their gimmicks.

War came close to this with Tiger's entry scene in that movie. Even though it was not completely well-executed, there was an attempt to go different and rely on Tiger's skills to pull off a stunning action scene. Shroff Jr doesn't need your slo-mo and posturing, Bollywood, he can do better than that, if you allow him to.

He can be our Tony Jaa. We, instead, are content in making him a flexible Salman Khan!

The Performances

Okay, let's not get into this!

Yay!

- Tiger and Riteish's Bromance. Sorta.

- The Lead Star's (Under-Utilised) Action Skills

Nay!

- Almost Everything Else

Final Thoughts

Despite Tiger in prime form and the many, many action scenes, Baaghi 3 turns out to be the dullest of the lot in a franchise that doesn't have much to boast about. In fact, this is such a headache-r, that I wished at times to borrow some of Shraddha's swear words and just shout them out in frustration. Without the censoring.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 06, 2020 02:08 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).