Bobby Jasoos: A volcano of talent... wasted!

The music ranged from anywhere between awful to below average. I give the film a 1.5 out of 5 rating.

Keeping the taste of Bollywood fans and critics in mind, director Samar Shaikh and producer Dia Mirza came up with a great formula for their new movie, Bobby Jasoos, one which they thought would be a hit movie. To understand it better, the formula is a mix between women-centric movies, like No one killed Jessica, Hate Story, Dirty Picture, Gulaab Gang and English Vinglish, and detective thrillers, like John Day, Samrat & Co., Kahaani, Mr Joe B Carvalho. 



So what is the movie about?

Bobby Jasoos is about Bilquis Ahmed (Vidya Balan), also known as Bobby Jasoos, who aspires to be a detective and truly believes she would be a great one. But unfortunately, she doesn’t have what it takes to be a renowned detective; she lacks presentation skills, language proficiency and professional training. Her parents want her to settle down with a nice Hyderabadi boy but Bobby, being a strong-headed woman, is determined to be a spy just like James Bond and starts her own private detective agency.  

Photo: Bobby Jasoos Facebook page

After various uninteresting cases, she is approached by Anees Khan (Kiran Kumar) who hires her for a case and pays her a hefty advance. Bobby puts her services to use and excitedly starts working on the case with the help of her friends Munna (Aakash Dahiya), Tasawur (Ali Fazal) and Shetty (Prasad Barve). Things start off as planned for Bobby but as predicted things turn become interesting when Bobby inquires about other cases she dealt with in the past for Khan.

Photo: Bobby Jasoos Facebook page

An array of performances

Balan is a volcano of talent and can surprise her viewers in any given character. She did a commendable job with her comic timings and emotional bursts, and her little romantic gestures made her role complete, leaving no room for error.

Photo: Bobby Jasoos Facebook page

Fazal is talented and excels like a polished actor in some of the scenes. He looks smart, dances well and acts in a perfectly natural way.

Photo: Bobby Jasoos Facebook page

Being a power pack of dramatic scenes and emotional performances, Kumar makes an on-screen appearance after a long time. It truly was a delight to watch him in a very demanding role where he had to be composed, dubious and unpredictable. Only a well-seasoned actor could pull off the designated role and Kumar was the perfect choice.

Photo: Bobby Jasoos Facebook page

Dahiya and Barve did equal justice to their characters, providing the audience with a decent watch. On the other hand, Tanvi aazmi, Supriya Pathak and Zarina Wahab along with Rajendra Gupta were a total waste of screen time; they looked like nothing more than fillers for the movie and this did no justice to the talent they encompass. Arjan Bajwa as Lala also gave an extraordinary performance.

Photo: Bobby Jasoos Facebook page

Here comes the disappointment

Being a fan of Balan’s acting abilities and always looking forward to watching a nice thriller cum detective themed movie, I had high hopes from the movie. But unfortunately, it failed to make its mark. The plot seemed half-baked and there were too many stories trying to merge into one which only ended up confusing the audience. The movie had a great cast but their talent was not utilised to its full potential. Also, one aspect that seemed to bother me was the fact that although the movie portrayed typical ‘Hyderabadis’ the accents just didn’t match my expectation.

If making a hit movie was all about getting into a multiple disguises then Bobby Jasoos could have survived and made an impact. But the filmmakers need to understand that it takes a strong plot and script, and some over the top performances, to make a movie worth watching. By the end of the movie, the audiences were left with many unanswered questions, which evidently showed that the filmmakers and writers did not do justice to their work.

Remember that song from the movie? I don’t either!

You know how you watch a movie, especially a Bollywood movie, and this one song, or a couple in certain films, just stick to you and you can’t wait to go home to download it so you can listen to it on repeat? Yeah, that wasn’t the case here, or even close to it. I couldn’t remember any song after watching the movie and neither of them made an impact. The music ranged from anywhere between awful to below average.

Photo: Bobby Jasoos Facebook page

And the verdict is…

Had the script been slightly more gripping, the movie would have been a great success. Although the actors did give it their best shot, in their respective capacities, it is always team effort that can save any enterprise and Bobby Jasoos missed the mark from miles away.

In light of its weak script, confused storytelling and lack of precision I give the film a 1.5 out of 5 rating.