Baby John

Baby John (2024), directed by Kalees, is a remake of Atlee's 2016 Tamil blockbuster Theri. Starring Varun Dhawan in the titular role, alongside Keerthy Suresh (in her Hindi film debut), Wamiqa Gabbi, and Jackie Shroff, the film follows Sathya Verma, a former cop who goes undercover as Baby John to protect his daughter from a dangerous enemy. With high-octane action sequences, a star-studded cast, and a runtime of 2 hours and 45 minutes, the film promises thrills but struggles to deliver a cohesive experience.

From the outset, it's clear that Baby John heavily leans on choreographed action and song sequences, visually impressive but loosely strung together by a weak and uninspired storyline. The screenplay and editing, crucial elements for a gripping narrative, falter significantly, leaving the film feeling disjointed. As the captain of the ship, the director shoulders much of the blame for allowing these technical snags to slip through.

The superhero-like heroism in the fight and dance sequences stretches believability, often pulling the audience out of the experience. While some moments provide spectacle, they fail to maintain the emotional crescendo necessary to sustain the film's momentum. The predictable climax, punctuated by Salman Khan's tired cameo, ends the roller-coaster ride on a disappointingly flat note.

The performances, however, stand as the film's saving grace. Varun Dhawan, Jackie Shroff, and the rest of the cast give it their all, doing justice to their roles despite the lackluster material. Keerthy Suresh's Bollywood debut is commendable, though her talent feels underutilized in this setup.

Ultimately, Baby John feels like a missed opportunity-an action-packed visual extravaganza that fails to resonate emotionally or narratively. The film's reliance on spectacle over substance leaves it feeling hollow, making it a challenging watch for audiences expecting more than just surface-level thrills.

Rating: 2/5 stars - Baby John offers brief moments of visual entertainment but suffers from a weak storyline and missed opportunities, making it a forgettable addition to the action thriller genre. Watch it for the cast's earnest performances, but don't expect much beyond that.

Pros & Cons:

• Varun Dhawan gave his 100% effort to shine as a Mass Entertainer, BUT the Director & Script let him down big time by making him a Superman/1 Man Army in one moment than a complete coward & punching bag for Babbar Sher's thugs the next moment.

• Jackie Shroff is an acting legend. He was terrifying in the movie. But because of his old age he was reduced to playing a Daadu role and couldn't fight with the Hero Satya head on and had his goons do all the work for him, which made the Hero vs Villain angle very boring & blend instead of exciting.

• Rajpal Yadav was spectacular in his sidekick role. Both Jackie Shroff and Rajpal Yadav did far far better acting than the main character, Varun, who was doing his typical overacting here and there.

• Every song in this movie was extremely boring and stretched the film out making it 30 minutes longer than it should've been. This was supposed to be a very serious movie about very serious crime topics like human trafficking, selling women in black markets and forcing them into prostitution etc. So why so many unnecessary songs were added that just kept on coming out of nowhere without any context.

• All in all this movie is not bad, but it is also not great either. It's just a so-so movie good for a one time watch with your family on OTT platform.

Don't waste your time or money on this utterly awful Bollywood remake! "Baby John" is nothing but a scene-for-scene copy of a South Indian movie "Theri Movie", with absolutely no originality. It's like the makers thought they could get away with just copying every single detail without any effort to bring something fresh to the table. Bollywood should be ashamed of itself for this lazy attempt at filmmaking.

The car scene? A direct rip-off of the original, with the exact same open jeep and police stick placed on top. It's as if the filmmakers couldn't even be bothered to change a single detail. Then there's the little girl who calls the hero "Baby." Guess what? Same thing from the original movie. They didn't even try to give this character a unique twist.

And don't even get me started on the bus scene where the bus falls off a bridge into the water-this too is taken directly from the original movie. The whole "school scene" where a boy beats up a girl and she waits for "Baby" to save her is just recycled from the original, with no effort to make it different or interesting. The dialogues? Completely borrowed. The moment where the girl says to the hero, "I call you Baby, but that doesn't mean you are actually a baby," is straight from the original with no attempt to add anything new. In short, "Baby John" is a shameful copycat film that doesn't even attempt to make itself stand out. It's lazy, uninspired, and a huge disappointment. If you want to watch the original movie, go ahead and do it, but don't waste your time with this mindless, soulless remake.

How many times the audience will be fooled? Difficult to sit through for even half an hour. Irritating characters, bad dialogues, poor bg score, hamming villian and extremely bad storyline. Not an even single area to cherish. Theri by Atlee was bad and now remake is worst!! We should have rights to ask for refund. Rather audience should be paid to watch this. You can't even watch if paid. All the positive reviews are either paid or I pity the people who found this cinema good.

Kalees- Poor Director Atlee- Copycat producer/director Bad remake of Theri which was copier from Vijaykanth starree Shatriyan.

The Hindi remake of Theri struggles to capture the essence of the original, despite a few strong performances. Varun Dhawan, though solid in the latter parts of the film, overacts in the early scenes, particularly with forced dialogue like "Mere jaise bahut aaye honge, but main pehli baar aaya hoon." His emotional depth is average, but a standout moment comes during an intense scene involving Nanaji's son.

Keerthy Suresh, in a role made iconic by Samantha, could have delivered more. Though she holds her own, her performance lacks the emotional intensity needed. The supporting cast shines, with Sheeba Chaddha adding charm to her role, and Jackie Shroff stealing the show as the antagonist. Wamiqa Gabbi, despite a promising character as an undercover agent, feels underused.

The film's pacing suffers due to an overabundance of songs, which slow down the narrative, though the background music does add intensity. The direction is competent but lacks the emotional depth that could have elevated the film. While the plot follows the original, the inclusion of Wamiqa's subplot doesn't feel fully integrated.

Overall, the remake is an average watch-solid performances from some, but it fails to leave a lasting impact.