Bholaa, Main Aur Mera Mayhem Kaithi Lagi?

Bholaa

Rating: ** ½

There is  nothing  bhola(innocent) about Bholaa. A  bloodthirsty  shrieking yarn  of a film . A  mayhem-filled masala dossier  of   crime and  adventure  that Lokesh Kanagraj  made into a Tamil  feast of fury  Kaithi, now  ours to appreciate   in an  adapted form  ostensibly  palatable to Ajay Devgn’s  fans  in the  cow belt.Moo  power to  the adaptive gang.

Apart from one  major radical change from the original, Bholaa is  as faithful to the original as any banquet  of  bloodshed can be.  For those  who came in late(not a bad idea, since the prologue  of this fast-moving commotion  picture is  pretty  vapid) the  eponymous  Bholaa,   played by the producer-director  Mr Devgn(is that how  he spells his name these days?)  is out from jail after ten years(why ten?  Why not twelve?) to meet his infinitely cute daughter Jyoti(Hirva Trivedi).

The  interludes  between  the father and  daughter on the phone  are the only soft spots  in  an otherwise tough and  obdurate  action  film where motorcycles  fly in the air (Rohit Shetty’s influence over Mr Devgn’s artistic  mindscape) as dear Bholaa manoeuvres  a truck  filled with  poisoned unconscious  cops to safety. His company in  the driver’s cabin  are  a hardnosed  cop Diana(Tabu) and  a comic caterer  Karchi(Amir Khan, not the  one you think).

Fortuitously , the three begin to  care for one another over a night filled with drugs  and  goons.  There is  a  feeling of mutual empathy among  the three incidental travelers  that could have been further developed. But no! Director Devgn is   interested in nothing more than pegging the  smartly-done  stunts to the characters . They exist only as long as the  action does.Without the flying fists and  bristling bullets the characters  have no life.

Still, the stunts are fun to watch. And it’s a masterstroke that Mr Devgn has converted the original male cop’s role into a female. Tabu has played  the  dutiful and  beautiful cop to Devgan  earlier in the Drishyam  films. Here in  Bholaa Devgn and Tabu  are a lot more interactive. I specially   liked  Tabu in the sequence  where  she  tells Devgn about  how she  lost her child in the line of  duty.

I wish  the  film had more  such quiet ruminative  moments. Sadly Bholaa is a film in a hurry. It knows it has a captive  audience and it won’t lose it at any  cost. Devgn’s direction stresses on accelerated  action and aggravated  drama.  Almost the  entire cast of goons and  drug peddlers  look like they’ve jumped out of  Ram Gopal Varma’s cinematic universe. They  could do with a wash.

The one  actor who stands out  in  the  melee  of mayhem is Deepak Dobriyal. As  the archvillain Ashu , Dobriyal is  menacing and mirthful , taciturn and quite  a mouthful. He is  fun without letting the evil quotient be  diluted. And he has a  cannibal brother played by Vineet Kumar whose name is—hold your culinary  cravings—Nithari.

This is  the  one real-life  masterstroke in the  derivative  screenplay that seems suitably  spirited in a film where the hero is a Shiv Bhakt . One massive  action sequence has  Bholaa impaling the goons with a trishul , like  succulent meat  forked  off a plate.