Produced by: Aditya Chopra
Directed by: Varun V. Sharma
Starring: Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Sharvari Wagh & Pankaj Tripathi
Screenplay & Dialogues: Varun V. Sharma
Story: Aditya Chopra
Original Characters created by: Jaideep Sahni
The story of BUNTY AUR BABLI 2 continues, 15 years after the events of the prequel BUNTY AUR BABLI. Rakesh (Saif Ali Khan) and Vimmi (Rani Mukerji) are now settled in Phursatganj. They have a son, Pappu, and have completely left the con job. One day, Inspector Jatayu Singh (Pankaj Tripathi), who was a junior cop in the team of Dashrath Singh (Amitabh Bachchan) who was in charge of solving the Bunty and Babli case, arrests them for conning a group of middle aged men. They were promised a trip to a country called Virgin Island and each person in the group had paid Rs. 5 lakhs to a couple – Kunal Singh (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Sonia Rawat (Sharvari), who left their mark behind for cops to find – a logo of Bunty and Babli. Rakesh and Vimmi insisted that it wasn’t them but yet, Jatyu wouldn’t have it. But he finally believes them when Kunal and Sonia carry out another con job while Rakesh and Vimmi are in custody. This time, they fool a mayor (Yashpal Sharma) of a town in western Uttar Pradesh under the pretext of selling the lease of the Ganga river. Jatayu makes an offer to Rakesh and Vimmi. He asks for their help in nabbing the new Bunty and Babli. They agree because they were a little offended because someone was using their name to do these deeds. What happens next forms the rest of the film.
The plot of the film is interesting, but there was nothing new to offer and it felt like a déjà vu. The story has been built well, as to what to expect and how, but after that it is just a downward journey for the film. Without even comparing to the first part, the film would seem flawed and without any sense of direction. we are all for comedies, even if they are mindless, but it should be comical and this just wasn’t, even though it tried, a bit too hard.
Technically, the film is good. Cinematography by Gavemic U Ary is good and makes the visuals pleasant. Aarif Sheikh’s editing is okay. The writing is the weakest point of the film and that’s where the film loses. Music is not memorable at all, and could have been completely avoided as a matter of fact. The production design is decent. The costumes are fine but you just feel it could have been better, especially after comparing it to the first part.
Performances can’t make this better either, despite them being good. First of all, take nothing away from Saif Ali Khan who is natural in such roles and effortlessly portrays the role of Rakesh aka Bunty in the film, but for the audience he can’t play the Bunty they saw Abhishek Bachchan portray. It’s mainly due to the image that stayed in people’s heads for over a decade. Barring that, even if it’s hard to take it off the mind, Saif essay’s the role well. Rani Mukherji returns as Vimmi aka Babli and she just fits the role like the shoes fit Cinderella, and one couldn’t give her a bigger compliment than this for her performance. That is her, but what ruined it for both of them, and even Siddhant Chaturvedi and Sharvari Wagh, is their poorly etched characters. They followed the script and the director’s direction to the T but it is not what the film required. Siddhant is a wonderful actor and it shows here as well. Sharvari gives her best and has a great screen presence. Pankaj Tripathi doesn’t take off his LUDO character for this one and is dependable as ever, but isn’t so funny. The rest of the cast offer good support.
Director Varun V. Sharma could have done a lot better- from writing to execution to even getting the desired performances out of his crop of talented actors.