Review: Bobby Jasoos
Film: Bobby Jasoos
Genre: Romantic comedy/drama
Director: Samar Shaikh
Cast: Vidya Balan, Ali Fazal, Supriya Pathak, Zarina Wahab, Arjan Bajwa
The hype around Samar Shaikh’s directorial debut, Bobby Jasoos, which hits theatres on Friday, was no less than the expectations from Vidya Balan, especially post her stellar performance in Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani.
To be fair, it starts on a high note and the ingenuity of the opening scene is surprising. It shows a couple passionately making out in an alley, only to be interrupted by a strange looking maulvi staring weirdly at the duo.
The first half of Bobby Jasoos is totally entertaining and pacy, but drags to an agonising halt as soon as the assignment takes centrestage. Shot aesthetically in a set-up completely apt for the story, Vidya is nothing short of a typical Bollywood hero here: she runs across alleys in canvas shoes, fights with her dad, and has no qualms about it. She even has the epic face-off with the bad guy, threatening him “tereko malum nahi ki kis se panga liya hai, choregi nahi Bobby tereku”
As for the performances, Vidya Balan looks at complete ease playing the bubbly, happy-go-lucky Bobby, or the many avatars she sports in the film. Ali Fazal looks every inch the character he plays: Bobby’s friend Tassavur, who cannot stand up to his father, and always in awe of the hero that Bobby is. He brings in a certain cute charm to the film. Supriya Pathak, Zarina Wahab, Kiran Kumar and Rajendra Gupta also suit their roles well.
Samar, a debut director, has come out with a decent film. He would do well to choose his scripts wisely — ones that have a complete story. For all the fun that Vidya is, Bobby Jasoos ends up a bit too abrupt — in the end, we don’t know if Bobby eventually became a professional jasoos. We also don’t know what happened to the Ali-Vidya love story.
Watch Bobby Jasoos, if you must, for Vidya’s performance and the chemistry she shares with Ali.
