Eighties Caper:
What’s with these Bollywood tributes? In 2014, Himesh Reshammiya played the maverick cop Ravi Kumar in The Xpose which was set in the 1960s as a homage to films of that era. Over a decade later, he has supposedly become a badass, and in his new film, he pays a “logic optional” tribute to the 80s.
Nobody who actually saw the kind of films Badass Ravi Kumar (directed by Keith Gomes) emulates would look back fondly, but thanks to sporadic bouts of induced nostalgia, the idea has grown roots that 80s Bollywood was all slapdash kitsch with outrageous dialogue. True, there was a section of films that were massy to the lowest common denominator, but that’s not all the 80 were about. Himesh Reshammiya, who had an insane spurt of popularity as a singer, somehow got it into his head that he is movie star material—if he were, he would not have to produce films for himself.
He just wanted to be an over-the-top hero, and the easiest way is to lampoon the worst kind of films made at one time. A parody, if done well, is the best form of flattery. James Bond spoofs are a genre by themselves. Unfortunately, Badass Ravi Kumar falls between parody and homage and does justice to neither.
Ravi Kumar is called back from suspension—he is constantly suspended for killing criminals—to trace a ‘reel’ that contains India’s top secrets, which enemies (read Pakistan) want to get their hands on. A dancing joker of a villain, Carlos (Prabhu Deva) is given the job of acquiring the reel, which has been passed around and reached the possession of Laila (Kirti Kulhari, an unlikely femme fatale). She also happens to be the sister of Ravi Kumar’s lost lady love Madhubala (Sonia Kapoor).
The trigger-happy cop lands up in Oman and is up against a bunch of no gooders (Anil George, Rajesh Sharma), who are no match for his custom-made gun or his rhyming dialogue (Bunty Rathore channeling Kader Khan). A few minutes into the film, there is a genuine sense of fun, which soon degenerates into an anything goes mayhem. Sidekicks (Sanjay Mishra, Johny Lever) do their own thing, Sunny Leone makes a guest appearance, songs are inserted at random, a heist sequence is put in for the heck of it. At a crucial point, the villain says, “location change” and everybody goes off to dance.
Himesh Reshammiya does not have the swag or the acting chops to play a loose cannon cop, and he takes the role much too seriously, so after a point it ceases to be a spoof, and becomes just another B-grade action film that is lost in the deserts and palaces of Oman. If there’s one amidst the crowd of actors who says “what nonsense” and plays Carlos like he was in a fancy dress party is Prabhu Deva. He gets the preposterousness of the goings-on and gets his laughs, even though he is a nasty bloke who kills for the fun of it. Ravi Kumar needed this madcap energy, but Reshammiya’s stolid presence that struggles to hit coolness with long hair, dark glasses and cheesy lines, but effortless badassery cannot be acquired – it is either built in, or slogged for.
(This piece first appeared in rediff.com)
