Rarely have spy thrillers been well made in Bollywood. Barring Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Madras Café’ in the recent past, I can’t even recall one such film which had me gripped and entertained. So if I was disappointed with ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ as I was expecting a lot, I was sheerly bored and baffled by ‘Agent Vinod’. Director Neeraj Pandey has a penchant for making edge-of-the-seat thrillers. ‘A Wednesday’ still figures among my list of the best films; it’s a script every ardent movie-goer would love to watch on screen. Not half as good as it, his second outing ‘Special 26’ was still another fantastic movie which kept me hooked till the last reel. Needless to say, I was waiting to date ‘Baby’.
Post some terror attacks (26/11 specifically) in the country; a special undercover team is formed to give a fitting reply to Pakistani terrorists for five years. Feroz Ali Khan (Danny Denzongpa) leads this team of fearless officers who are eager to go to any extent so that they can serve the country. “Mil jaate hain kuch officers hame… thode paagal, thode adial, jinke dimag mein sirf desh aur deshbhakti ghoomti rehti hain. Yeh desh ke liye marnaa nahi balki jeenaa chaahte hain… taaki aakhri saans tak desh ki rakshaa kar sake” – he proudly describes them. Ajay (Akshay Kumar) is the best among them. ‘Baby’ is about their last mission; one in which they are out to save the nation when something big is being planned by a terrorist group in Pakistan.
Direction by Neeraj Pandey is excellent yet again; though the first half does get you a little impatient and it takes you some time to figure out so many characters, it all stays to the point leading to a pre-interval that will leave
you waiting for the second half to begin. Pandey creates the same kind of tension as in his previous movies (remember that solo dialogue by Naseeruddin Shah in ‘A Wednesday’ or the con climax in ‘Special 26’?) and by the time ‘Baby’ ends, it turns out to be a good and fulfilling movie experience. There is a lot going in favour of the movie- the awesome performances, direction, dialogues and the background score which create the right impact for a movie like this. Action is raw and slick; Akshay Kumar makes it look even better. There are scenes which stand out and I won’t point out any single one here; you have to watch it to believe it- be it for the almost nail-biting sequences and climax or the humour. But the movie does fall short of expectations if you compare it with the Director’s previous outings.
It’s a pleasure to watch Akshay Kumar do a good role (very few of them) especially because he is simply fantastic here. You realize what a great actor he can be when he does not pick silly movies which do well commercially for the masses. His fans should love him in this one! It’s among his best performances so far. Danny Denzongpa looks his part well and adds to the proceedings well. Anupam Kher in a relatively small role is great as usual. Rana Dagubatti is just about okay. Kay Kay Menon is wasted though he does his little role as well as he does any other role. Sushant Singh and Tapsee Pannu are adequate; the latter gets one of the best scenes in the movie. Pakistani actor Rasheed Naz is terrific as the evil mulla.
Watch it or not: Miss it at your own risk. Strongly recommended!
At the Box-Office: It will start slow but pick up due to good word-of-mouth. However… I don’t see it being a hit as the budget is high and though it has Akshay Kumar, ‘Baby’ isn’t mass-appealing. At best… Average.
My Verdict
4
Baby’ is a great way to begin the year for Bollywood and will be among the best movies in 2015. Thumbs up!
