‘Baghera’ Movie Review: Prabhu Deva’s performance can’t save this disturbing mess

A still from ‘without’ Photo credit: Special Arrangements

After his mother dies, Bagheera escapes from prison and becomes a force to be reckoned with for everyone around except Mowgli, a friend he will protect at all costs. This one-liner is not exactly the story of Prabhu Deva-Adhika Ravichandran’s latest film. Bagherabut of Rudyard Kipling’s fictional character of the same name The Jungle Book. That said, Aadheek’s film tries to replace the unlikely friendship between a man and a black panther with a psychopath and friendly jungle animals with “characterless” women who have had multiple affairs. For some heartbroken men by reason. The film tries to build a story on this delicate idea and what we end up with is a combination of unfunny adult humor, boy beast jokes, callbacks to classic films, and a lot of underutilized talent. which together push the character of Prabhu Deva. lifetime.

Aadheek attempts to write scenes in which a woman ditches her boyfriend for a better man, or how a woman drinking alcohol is a global disaster, or preserving a woman’s virginity until Until she finds a husband, nothing new. In fact, they form almost the entire plot of his directorial debut, Trisha Alana Nyenthara. Meanwhile, his sophomore directorial debut, Nineteenth Isaradhavan Adangadhavan, He tried hard to convey the message from house to house that men’s love is purer and more sincere than that of women who seem to find it easier to break up. But these tropes clashed within. Baghera, in which our titular hero kills women who engage in the aforementioned activities. If this brings to your mind an assortment of movies, it’s no surprise. The film feels like a piece of ideas borrowed from established titles Enyan, Manmadhan, Sigappu Rojakal And Alavandhan. There are also many scenes that are inspired by movies like Hollywood. Hereditary. And shine. Even the dead body of one of the main characters – who kills himself like an acid shower – makes him look like Two-Face. Dressed in black.

The biggest problem with Baghera It’s that it doesn’t take itself seriously. The entire runtime is filled with some intentionally and many unintentionally funny moments. Like Aaaah, no It also has a policeman who, in keeping with tradition with his forefathers in Tamil cinema, won’t solve the case until the end of the film. But even that doesn’t explain why this cop, played by the usually reliable Sai Kumar, drags a Rolex to the crime scene with a loud speaker and randomly plays the crime scene tape. A pair of scissors for cutting cuts like a character. has tricked himself into thinking he is an actor invited to the opening of a clothing store.

If the premise of the film isn’t already difficult enough, it only gets worse when they milk the concept in the name of humor. Knowing that the killer is bleeding and attacking any woman who cheated on a boy, the father and daughters gather at the commissioner’s office where the fathers cry out that their daughters have been with the commissioner. How many boys have you broken up with? The ridiculousness hits the roof when the scene ends with the commissioner wondering what his daughter’s count will be. And oh, did I mention the Bejaya app? The application lets men file complaints against women who “cheated” on them by punching in details like their name, years in the relationship and a photo of their respective cheating partners as proof. And I thought nothing would top it. GarudapurnamPowerful anniyan.com.

A still from ‘without’ Photo credit: Special Arrangements

What’s more troubling is that the film tries to convey that the makers are not painting all women with the same brush. #NotAllWomen, I guess? Writing dialogues also does not help the film. In one scene, a supposed mother is meeting her future daughter-in-law about how proud she is that the young girl never asked her son to book an Oyo room. ISRO’s next mission will likely be to send a new space probe to find a planet where such lines are considered a joke. Bagheera doesn’t break character even when he’s randomly sitting in a car. A girl who asks him to protect her from stalkers finds him giving her the cold shoulder because “what’s a good girl doing in a boys’ hostel at night?” But when he discovers that she is actually a “good girl” who has come to meet her boyfriend of eight years, Baghera saves her because such women are apparently hard to come by and must be saved at all costs. Some days, you’re glad you didn’t have an expensive tub of popcorn in your lap that you would have sent flying in frustration.

What perhaps comes as the only silver lining is Prabhu Deva for whom Baghera offers scope to perform unlike any other film that spans nearly three decades of his career as an actor. The film’s insurmountable issues aside, it’s the actor’s unique comedic timing, body language, and dance, that certainly provide respite. The actor distinguishes his various roles with his looks and acting. There are even references to the actor’s legendary songs. ‘Vanello Vanello’ And ‘Chucko Bucko Royale’. In the final twenty minutes, where his psyche is fully exposed with a remixed version of ‘ Pattukottai Ummalu‘ For the company, the actor pumps in a good dose of freshness that the film so badly needed by this point. However, the damage done by then was far too bad to save the film.

Finally, the film pulls a 360 and tries to convince you that its heart is always in the right place. And it just reminded me Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara, a film that was full of jokes about drinking but ended with a note about how it is harmful to health. That movie was at least funny. Baghera, for all the countless female leads it has, offers none of them proper screen time except Amira, and that’s the least of its problems. Overall, Baghera There’s a hodgepodge of tropes from popular serial killer movies and all the bar songs in which the heroes crush their love interests before reuniting with them. I jungle book, Bagheera saves Mowgli, but Bagheera doesn’t save his Mowgli, and to make matters worse, we feel like we’re human children.

Bagheera is currently playing in theaters.