Badmaash Company - movie review

FR: Too long! 

I don't know if this movie was poorly edited or I'm just used to short song-less English films. Either ways, like I told Manna, it was more of an educational film than an entertaining one, at least for me. I learnt that in 1994, Manmohan Singh reduced import duty on imported goods from 120% to 20%. And sundry such small interesting details. Moving on to the plot..

Karan (Shahid Kapoor), Bulbul (Anushka Sharma), Chang and Vir Das (Damn I don't remember their screen names :P) are thrilled to go to Bangkok for an all-expense paid trip. In return, they have to buy foreign goods for their mentor Archibhai. The movie is set in 1994 when the Indian Government was still levying heavy taxes on imported goods. Archibhai has moles in the customs department which allow him to bring in imported goods and evade import duty. Karan loves the luxurious life of easy money and soon hatches a scheme which will get the "Friends and Company" greater profits.

When the import duty is reduced from 120% to 20%, Karan and his friends find that they are unable to go on using evasion on import duty as a lucrative option. Soon, Karan uses his ingenuity to hatch another money-making scheme which just borders on being illegal. As happens with every hero doing anything slightly wrong, Karan too has to face the music for what he has done. Kya Karan apni bhool ko sudhar payega? Ya apne saare paise jue mein haar jayega? Interesting questions all. But it takes too long to answer them.

Vir Das turned out to be a nice little surprise package with his puppy dog looks and superb acting. Shahid was predictably decent and I felt his mean act was so good that this movie should have been called Kamine (Notice the missing y ;)). Anushka Sharma cuts ice with her tough girl act, but doesn't have much to do in the second half. Chang was disappointing. The only time he evokes any reaction is when he is the butt of a joke (Bewde Chini :D). One dose of acting classes here please. The cinematography is excellent and I would say Bangkok is looking more appealing than the US.

Although the movie seems a bit too long, I won't say that it ever gets dull. The camaraderie between the lead actors is good and their dialogues and costumes evoke laughter. The climax is super lame and the audience unanimously burst out into laughter when Karan announces his ultimately-for-the-ultimate-good-scheme. The feeling I got from this movie is, it has been made by an innocent child. Too many things have been assumed and that's what always makes me go "they had to prove that it is a BOLLYWOOD film". Nevertheless, definitely worth a watch once for A-Y-A-S-H-I on the Bangkok beaches ;)

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