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Movie Name: Bol Bachchan





Star Cast: Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Asin, Prachi Desai
Director: Rohit Shetty
Producer: Dhillin Mehta, Ajay Devgn
Music Directer: Himesh Reshammiya, Ajay-Atul
Genre: Comedy

One moment, a jeep in mid air goes right through the wind-shield of a bus, shattering the glass. A little later, another jeep rams through a truck carrying drums of water while buses overturn, and finally a car hangs by the edge of a cliff. You marvel at these stunt sequences as dozens of humans fly all over the place and Ajay Devgn and Abhishek Bachchan kick ass. You’d imagine this is a hardcore action film. Except, this is supposed to be a comedy. Action comedies in that sense are a popular entertainment genre too. Rajnikanth is India’s Jackie Chan, or maybe it’s the other way round.

Since Singham and Golmaal 3, both directed by Rohit Shetty, Ajay Devgn has been meaning to rule that space. As you’d imagine, he appears in dark shades, sporting a moustache, walking with his shoulders wide apart, growling in broken English, “I will make you remember milk number six,” for, “Mein tumhein chhathi ka doodh yaad dilaoonga!” If you found that even vaguely funny, there’s more: “Hard work is the keyhole to saxophone,” he says for, “Hard work is the key to success”. It’s what’s colloquially called English ki taang todna! You could laugh, sometimes.



The intent here is obvious. Don’t worry too much about quality. Try to rake in the crores. Both Singham and Golmaal 3 entered what’s now called the “Rs 100 crore club”. While it’s the producers who would've made all the money, audiences have begun to get interested in box-office numbers as well. They feel a film watched by that many people must be a good one. All 12 movies in the supposed 100 crore club, barring 3 Idiots, Dabanng and RA.One, are either remakes and sequels. This effort before us is also a remake, of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s warm, gentle, hilarious Gol Maal (1979).

Abhishek Bachchan plays Amol Palekar’s role from that film. Devgn updates Utpal Dutt’s part. He’s the boss. In the original, Utpal Dutt’s character had an issue against men who didn’t wear a moustache. Therefore, Amol Palekar had to invent a twin. Obsession with moustache is a comical premise. In this case, Devgn’s Abbas has to hide the fact that he’s Muslim from his ********, because he’d broken the lock of a disputed temple. This confusion can be settled in a minute. It’s not that his Hindu boss has a problem with people from other religions. It’s hard to carry on with a story when the conflict itself makes no sense.



But then, this is, as you know, a "mindless", half-literate, shoddily produced action-comedy. Most won’t care so long as jaded SMS jokes or lame gags keep pouring in. Vehicles that equal the inventory of most showrooms fly over everybody’s heads. Some of this could be funny. But the makers don't quite know the art of the full-stop. At some point, like Devgn’s character, you want to yell, “Enog is enog.” I just feel sad for the restless soul of the great Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Somewhere, in another universe, he must be throwing a fit.

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1.5