Brawn Over Brain:
This international terrorist who has his own army and a huge arsenal somewhere in Syria, is baffled because his men and his dens are being decimated, not by “America, Russia, Mossad” but by a lone Indian in search of his brother!
If that Indian happens to be Ronnie (Tiger Shroff), then anything is possible—he can fight atop flying helicopters, and take on tanks with bare hands, while heavily armed enemy soldiers roll and over and die when he thunders in.
The skimpy plot of Baaghi 3, partially taken from 2012 Tamil film Vettai, has Ronnie as sole protector of his timid older brother Vikram (Riteish Deshmukh). When Vikram becomes a cop, Ronnie does the work of thrashing goons, while his brother collects the medals and praise. A gang in their native Agra, led by a thug called IPL (Jaideep Ahlawat) kidnaps families and sends them to Syria, so that the men can be forced to become suicide bombers. Now, if a terrorist is blowing up targets in his own country, why does he need to import bombers?
Ahmed Khan is not too concerned with sensible plot points, or even the elementary logic of a mainstream actioner; his main focus is on creating elaborate and impressive action set pieces, that would have been far more enjoyable had they been attached to a better story. Some real humour would have helped too (the promo of Sooryavanshi has more wit than this whole film!)
Tiger Shroff, bare-bodied for most of the scenes in Syria (shot in Serbia), does not get a moment’s rest as he hunts for Vikram, abducted by the terrorist Abu Jalal Gaza (Jameel Khoury, a better actor than the entire cast put together). Ronnie does not need help, but has sidekicks anyway—his dumb girlfriend (Shradda Kapoor), who thinks Syria is a vacation spot, and Pakistani fixer Akhtar Lahori (Vijay Verma), who speaks with a Hyderabadi accent. Then again, such details are not important when you have a protagonist who is more effective at eradicating terrorists than several comic-book superheroes rolled into one!
The Baaghi 3 franchise can probably go on as long as Tiger Shroff remains fast and furious, and there are unexplored locations in which to shoot… and till the audience demands better films.
Rating: Two and a half stars
