REVIEW: ‘Bajatey Raho’ Is Short But Not Sweet

'Bajatey Raho' a film that tries too hard and fails to get anywhere significant. The message is questionable, the script takes too many shortcuts, the humour is bland and the acting is passable at best.

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A dedicated and upright bank manager, discredited by his unscrupulous and crooked boss, loses his life when he is unable to bear the humiliation. His wife and son are left with the burden of repaying the bank’s clients who lost their life savings as a result of the fraud.The widow (Dolly Ahluwalia) now masterminds long and short cons to collect the money owed to these clients and clear her husband’s name. All these cons are directed towards the bank’s owner, Mohan Sabharwal (Ravi Kissen). Rob from him and repay the innocent clients who trusted her husband. In other words, two wrongs make a right. Seriously?

So, Sukhi (Tusshar Kapoor), mummyji’s son, Ballu (Ranvir Shorey) whose relationship with them is unclear, Mintoo (Vinay Pathak), a friend, and his son Kabootar join forces to steal from Sabharwal. Also joining them is Manpreet (Vishakha Singh), Sukhi’s love interest. A silly amount of time in the first half is squandered on their courtship including a jarring song shot is some foreign land.

Well, that’s all there is to the story. Several coincidences, convenient plot points and hardly any strategizing leads this gang to success. Sabharwal is humiliated at his daughter’s extravagant arranged marriage to a TV star and the clients are returned their investment.

It’s a film that tries too hard and fails to get anywhere significant. The message is questionable, the script takes too many shortcuts, the humour is bland and the acting is passable at best. The only actors who pop out of the pedestrian effort are Shorey and Kissen both of who bring texture to their grey parts. The music and background score are so loud they gave me a headache.

Another strong point of director Shashant Shah’s film is its running time of less than two hours!

Rating: **

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Udita Jhunjhunwala

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