Baaghi 3 (2020) Review!!

Synopsis – A man embarks on a bloody rampage to save his kidnapped brother.

My Take – There is no denying that every actor has his own set of range in which he comfortably operates, and as evident from films like 2017’s Munna Michael and 2019’s Student of the Year 2 (both atrocious films in their own right), acting and emoting is not exactly Tiger Shroff‘s forte. However, accept it or not, the star kid does possess a certain onscreen charisma to carry a film on his own accord, especially the ones of the heavy action duty genre, where he shows off his talents of flexing muscles and performing huge sets of mind-blogging stunts.

Hence, for a producer like Sajid Nadiawala it makes sense, considering the box office success both 2016’s Baaghi and 2018’s Baaghi 2 attained, to take the franchise forward, with director Ahmed Khan retaining his chair, to a much larger scale than its predecessors. Remaining true to its genre, this third installment, a remake of 2012 Tamil film Vettai, raises the magnitude of action and daredevils stunts to unseen levels, with Tiger Shroff stepping up to take on Choppers, a pair of tanks, and an ISI inspired military force, all on his own.

However, this time around, considering its 143-minute run time, the whole segment of Tiger vs. everybody, just gets mind numbing after a while, as we witness the same sequences repeat itself again and again, pushing the whole film to an unbearably overboard level.

Here, everything, as evident from its promos, from the screenplay to dialogues, to the plot to the performances is just unbearably over the top, with the flawed writing adding more insult to injury. And just one you thought you had seen every Bollywood masala trope plague the screenplay, Tiger‘s character Ronnie also gets to rise from the dead when his sibling and love interest call out to him. #SayNotoBaaghi4.

The story follows Ronnie (Tiger Shroff), a slacker, who seems committed to only one job in the world, i.e. to take care of his old brother, Vikram (Riteish Deshmukh), a promise he had made to his dying father, Inspector Charan Choudhary (Jackie Shroff). Vikram is so self-lacking in confidence that he even rejects an offer to job the police force, stating that he does not possess the strength or will to stand up to goons whenever the need will arise.

But Ronnie convinces him otherwise, assuring that he would have his back always, no matter the situation. And when the time comes for Vikram to stand up to the merciless gang spear headed by the ruthless IPL (Jaideep Ahlawat), Ronnie acting as his shadow, helps Vikram rescue all the hostage families from their captivity.

While Vikram gets sole credit and earns acclaim as a local hero, their antics, unknowingly puts him on the radar of Abu Jalal (Jameel Khoury), the leader of Syria’s largest terrorist group, for whom IPL kidnaps and couriers, in order to be used as human bombs. And when Vikram reaches Syria, on the orders of the External Ministry to track IPL, he is ambushed by Jalal’s men and taken away. Realizing that there is no one to help Vikram in this dire situation, Ronnie along with Siya (Shraddha Kapoor), Vikram’s sister in law, arrive in Syria to investigate the whereabouts of his missing brother, and are forced to go through Abu Jalal’s massive army.

The film meant to be an out and out action entertainer with its focus on Tiger shroff‘s skills has some well-choreographed action scenes that are truly exciting and spectacular, and manage to be a big treat for the lovers of the specific genre. However, due to its flawed writing the film suffers badly.

The biggest problem here is that the film relies on a wafer-thin story-line, with some illogical plot points thrown in for effect. For example, Ronnie dealing with the local goons was acceptable, but an entire army without any hint of professional training, seems a bit too farfetched even by Bollywood standards. We also never get an explanation on why Siya is a part of such a dangerous mission, and what kind of expertise she possesses.

Since the film goes beyond the shores of India, director Ahmed Khan and his team of writers could’ve used their imagination and packed the film with exciting moments. There is no doubt the film is massive in all respects, but the storytelling here has no grace to its credit as we get the familiar treatment in every beat of the film. With Farhad Samji unable to resist his addition of slapstick comedy even in face of the supposedly most dreaded terrorist.

While the cinematography is on the glossy side with visuals always accentuating Tiger’s body and style, the visual effects are burdened by unreal imagination and over the top segments.

Performances wise, Tiger Shroff once again oozes his sincerity in making every sequence special and entertaining. While he remains plagued by his limited acting skills, he no doubt holds the torch for Bollywood’s best action star. While Ritesh Deshmukh brings his likability here, I did ponder on why he agreed to play such a character, which does did not provide any scope to broaden himself.

The same goes for Shraddha Kapoor, who has absolutely no purpose here. As the prime antagonist, Jameel Khoury (Body of Lies, Amazon Prime’s Jack Ryan) is noteworthy here, however, in supporting roles, Ankita Lokhande, Vijay Varma and Jaideep Ahlawat are wholly wasted. In special appearances, Disha Patani oozes hotness, but Jackie Shroff and Satish Kaushik fail to leave a lasting impression. On the whole, ‘Baaghi 3’ is a disappointing action thriller which seems to be produced to only showcase Tiger Shroff‘s unreal flexibility.