Film: Bholaa
Director: Ajay Devgn
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Amala Paul and Sanjay Mishra
Nonika Singh
Remake in times of OTT, one would presume, ought to be passé, dead and buried in the past. But Ajay Devgn basking in the success of Drishyam 2, also a remake of Malayalam film of the same name, perhaps is not wrong in assuming that remakes can work. So, here he is in and as Bholaa, Hindi remake of Tamil hit Kaithi directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, also credited with story in Bholaa.
High on action, low on cerebral quotient, a dash of humour and bit of emotion, Ajay Devgn is literally the one-man-army here. Not only because in the titular part of Bholaa he takes on goons by hundreds. He happens to be both the director and producer too.
To be fair, the actioner begins well, editing by Dharmendra Sharma is sharp and takes us from one eventful moment to another, even as the story is mostly set in one night. Devgn as Bholaa walks out of the jail after 10 years of imprisonment. A lovely girl child is waiting for someone in an orphanage. Tabu, who has in the recent past become the perennial cop, is SP Diana. She busts a drug racket and decides to store heroin worth Rs 1,000 crore in what she thinks is a secure prison made during the British era within her police station. There are moles on both sides of the law and there has to be an all-out war between those on the right and the wrong side. Bholaa is inadvertently caught in between. Comic actors are devious villains. Both Deepak Dobriyal and Gajraj Rao, fine actors, who have so far regaled us in comic parts turn into all shades of black. Rao impresses us to start with but since his villainy is confined to making calls here and there and playing Google maps to Diana’s enemies, it dissolves without making a lasting impact. Same can be said of Dobriyal’s Ashwathama act. Left to decimating his own men in violent fits of rage, he too is reduced to nothingness.
Expectedly, in an Ajay Devgn production one who stands tall above all else is Devgn himself. Larger than life in well executed action stunts, as an actor too he is unflappable and in charge and in control. Before we see him flex his muscles, an impactful Makarand Deshpande (a prisoner in the same jail) sings paeans in praise of Bholaa’s superhuman strengths and fearsome exploits. Drawn into a battle not of his making, once Bholaa comes into action, there is nothing but action, action and more action. Unspooling at relentless speed, we agree action here is brilliant, well choreographed and has that desi touch and atmospherics thanks to director of photography Aseem Bajaj, set somewhere in lawless UP. Besides, as long as the camera stays with Devgn, action sequences right till the end replete with his jaw-dropping trishul wielding act keep you engaged.
But simultaneous action at the police station where goons led by Dobriyal as Ashwathama barge in and yet can’t get through despite numbers and weapons not only calls for mere suspension of disbelief but much else including suspension of entertainment. Of course, if action alone is entertainment for you, Bholaa’s action juggernaut ought to suffice. While the film employs more than one trick in the bag, including a back-story wrapped up in a song, father-daughter angle, twist in the teasing climax with promise of a sequel and a surprise in store, it succeeds primarily in one department… action. Clearly, the film frames its own dictum; for every emotion there is action.
