This year gave me a few reasons to chuckle in irony at the confidence of certain film-makers. Like, Race 3 and Thugs of Hindostan ending with a promise of a never-happening sequel. Or when Dhadak tried to pull the wool over our eyes, expecting the gutting Sairat climax, only to fall flat on the face. Now, adding to the list is the unfortunate paradox of the title of this week's Bollywood release, Bhaiaji Superhit. The movie first made news when it released a poster of Sunny Deol, or rather the face of Sunny Deol photoshopped onto a picture of Johnny Depp. Expecting any sort of hope from the makers of this film after that stunt is a wasteful exercise. Stuck in the can for years, Bhaiaji Superhit, directed by Neerraj Pathak, had now removed the 'y' from the title, as if it was the shani that was affecting the film. Did that help Bhaiaji Superhit or Sunny Deol's career in any way? Not the least bit! Bhaiaji Superhit Teaser: Sunny Deol's Power Punches are Balanced by Arshad Warsi's Comic Timing - Watch Video.

After last week's Mohalla Assi (another delayed Deol film), the real Jat returns to Varanasi once again, ditching the shlokas and amping up the punches. Sunny Deol plays 3D Bhaiyya or Bhaiyyaji, a don who is feared by the unscrupulous builders in the state. For his opponents, he might be a toughie, but when it comes to his wife Sapna (Preity Zinta), he turns softie. It's another matter that she has left him eight months back on a mere suspicion that could have been solved with one conversation.

Ah, anyway, Bhaiyyaji falls for the trap of a conniving director, Golu Kapoor (Arshad Warsi) who tries to eke money out of the don by making a film on his love life. This gives the opportunity for the other players to enter the scene like Porno Ghosh (Shreyas Talpade) and an opportunistic actress Mallika Kapoor (Ameesha Patel). There is also a subplot involving a land mafia honcho Helicopter Mishra (Jaideep Ahlawat), so named because he travels in helicopters, which the movie never revisits again after the intro scene. Mishra's sole purpose is to be the target board for the lead hero's punches, so you know how this storyline will end. Oh, and did I forget to add that Sunny Deol has a double role in the movie for some reason?

If I had to say something nice about Bhaiaji Superhit, I could say that there was some semblance of a good comedy film that got lost somewhere in the mesh of bad direction, bad scripting, bad editing and bad acting. With a healthy sprinkling of dust from the years that went by as the movie remained in the cans, as the audience's sensibilities have taken a turn for the good. The idea of having Sunny Deol spoofing himself felt great a decade back. It also gives Bhaiaji Superhit a couple of rare moments of hilarity when the doppelganger Bhaiyyaji begins to dance and everyone shuts him down. Or when Talpade's character rants that Sunny keeps on bringing Punjabi accent in whichever character he plays.

Unfortunately for the makers, this is 2018. We have already borne the brunt of the Yamla Pagla Deewana movies whose USP has been trying to mock the legacy of the Deols while also revering them (the last one came out this year). Sunny Deol is no longer a popular star among the masses and so parodying his superstar image is now passe. Yup, Time has not been kind to the movie, just like the movie hasn't been kind to our brains.

To know how delayed this Analyse This-meets-Bowfinger movie is, let's point out some observations here. Someone thought of casting Ameesha Patel in a film. Arshad Warsi's character mentions Salman is shooting for Mental, a film long abandoned by the superstar. Above all, Pankaj Tripathi, who had a two-bit role here, is now a bigger star than most of the cast.

And there is some really bad editing on display too. The doppelganger's entry, post-entry, happens all of a sudden with no idea given where he is from. Actors in supporting roles appear and disappear with no explanation, but the one that baffled me the most was Mukul Dev's. He was one of Bhaiyyaji's cronies (the others being Brijendra Kala, Amit Mistry, Hemant Pandey) shown at the start. But after a couple of scenes, the character disappears in thin air, along with his Bhaiyyaji's beard. Many threads remain ignored, or brought up at the last moment only to be ignored again (there is pregnancy subplot that is conveniently brushed away). Consistency is also not a forte of the film, as actors' shirts keep changing within a scene itself. The appearances and the increasing age of some of the actors are clearly observed.

The action scenes are so choppily edited that they feel like an unintentional tribute to Mithun's glorious '90s-wala movies. Let me also point out there is also a Shiva rave that is so cringey that even Sunny Deol and Ameesha Patel rubbing lips again after that queasy Gadar - Ek Prem Katha kiss feels passable. And I am not even discussing the misogyny and sexism on display here!

All these lead to a climax that involves a railyard full of disposable goons, along with some automobiles and trains. If they had brought in a plane too, we could have had a great John Hughes joke in there. Well, that's too much to expect from the writers who expect us to laugh on lines like, 'Chalo Nau Do Tera Ho Jaao'.

Even after all these, I had a glimmer of hope that the movie could redeem itself, when Preity Zinta began to bash the goons as Sunny Deol stands by idly. Almost immediately, Bhaiaji Superhit reminded me of what it is with a kick to her stomach and to my senses. The heroine gets back to being a damsel in distress, and the makers pat each other on the back for turning Bhaiaji Superhit for what it is - a tedious exercise that celebrates machoism of the leading star.

Watch the Trailer of Bhaiaji Superhit Here - 

The Performances

Last week in Mohalla Assi, we saw him abuse. This week, we see him make funny faces. And Sunny Deol sucks in doing both. This could easily be his worst performance of his career, as the actor shrieks his way through every scene. While it is lovely to see Preity Zinta on the big screen, I would have rather have watched all her IPL team matches live in the stadium than see her ham like this here. Completely miscast.

Arshad Warsi repeats the same shtick we see him doing in countless movies of his, though he is the only one worth watching here. Shreyas Talpade, another fine actor, is wasted in a Bengali caricature. Everything about Ameesha Patel in the movie screams BAD, right from her makeup, to her accent to her performance. Sanjay Mishra, Brijendra Kala, Amit Mistry, Jaideep Ahlawat etc merely add to the numbers.

Yay!

- You kidding, right?

Nay!

- The couple of hours I wasted in the theatre watching this!

Final Thoughts

You know that there is no hope to be gained when even Sunny Deol doesn't bother to promote his film, and he has acted in some really bad ones. Bhaiaji Superhit is an exercise in tedium, and is easily one of the worst films in the careers of the lead stars, if not THE WORST. Bhaiaji Superhit lands neither the laughs nor the punches!

Rating:1out of 5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 23, 2018 02:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).