Bobby Jasoos

A spy movie with comical touch, not a bad idea. But somehow when the script started taking serious turn the expectations of those viewers who were looking for some intense drama levelled up only to be served with some old melodramatic twist. There were many issues that could have been addressed without deviating from the theme, but then this is our usual bollywood stuff. I was hoping for some spy "Kahaani".

Vidya Balan strikes back as "Bobby Jasoos" wherein she plays an amateurish detective. But does it really create an impact????? In the beginning of the movie you get introduced to the world of Mughalpura in Hyderabad, the place where Bobby Jasoos stays and her struggle to become a famous detective and her immediate family of sisters and Khala's. Life changes for her when a stranger Anees Khan (Kiran Kumar) gives her an assignment to find out a girl Nilofer in Mughalpura. Who is Anees Shaikh and why does he want to know about the girl….forms the rest of the plot.

Written by Samyukta Chawla Shaikh, the story and screenplay emphasizes not only on Bilkis Ahmed's a.k.a Bobby Jasoos's professional adventure but also her personal life and somewhere in the story and screenplay that takes pretence and the movie looses completely on the aspect of edge of seat thriller which is expected from a detective movie. There are many characters introduced in the movie but many of them have no relevance to the main plot. The sequence which involves Bobby's personal life is very well written. After an hour especially post interval is when the screenplay just falls flat and the not so impactful climax does not help either.

Debutant director Samar Shaikh tries his best to make the setting as realistic as possible and is successful as well, right from the dialect of all the characters to the settings, but where the movie falters is the absence of thrill which is expected from a movie based on a detective.

It is the superlative performances of the ensemble cast which lifts the movie. Vidya Balan as Bilkis Ahmed/ Bobby Jasoos does a good job. Ali Fazal as Tasawur is earnest in his portrayal but somewhere he gets overshadowed by the rest of the cast. Other cast like Arjan Bajwa, Supriya Pathak, Kiran Kumar, Aakash Dahiya, Rajendra Gupta, Benaf Dadachanji and Prasad Barve do a fantastic job rising above the writing. Tanvi Azmi and Zarina Wahab are excellent but are wasted in brief roles.

Another highlight of the movie is the Production Design and the Costumes. Production Design by Tariq Umar Khan is spot on and very realistic, the same goes for the costumes by Thei Tekchandaney & Sheetal Sharma which absolutely blends with the narration.

The third highlight is the Cinematography by Vishal Sinha which captures Hyderabad especially the locality of Charminar like a dream.

Shatanu Moitra's music is average excluding one song "Arziyaan"..

After watching the movie I was confused whether I liked the movie or did not like it, so I came to the conclusion that it is a" Thriller without the Thrills" I will go with five Stars, watch it for its performances...

While my choice of genre doesn't really allow me to digest modern popcorn blockbuster Bollywood movies, I often tend to enjoy them occasionally if served with a good story and execution. I will have to say that Bobby Jasoos was not one of them.

Bobby Jasoos seems to be a half baked, self pretentious attempt in directing by Samar Shaikh and endorsed by Diya Mirza as a Producer, whose skills could have been better utilized as an actress to save this movie a little.

The story of Bobby Jasoos is about a 30 year old Muslim girl named Bobby, residing in the heart of Hyderabad city near the iconic Charminar. While she keeps herself involved in investigating cases in night and trying to get a proper detective job in daytime. She is having a rough time in securing clients as a detective, but luck takes a big turn as she receives an assignment that pushes her to her limits. Rest of the film is a riot as she tries to struggle her career as a detective and manage her family emotionally who doesn't seem to be in favor of what Bobby does.

While the film seems to have so much potential what makes it fail is the treatment. The film starts of in a humorous tone and actually seems like to begin with the right foot. But as it picks up pace we are introduced some of the people that seems like a cliché examples of typical characters from all of the Bollywood movies I detest watching. Slowly the viewer is faced with slapstick humor, family drama and been-there-done-that events that feels like Deja Vu in the course of a family drama movie.

Songs don't help either. Neither of the songs in the film leaves an impression on the viewers mind, rather give them a chance to take a break and catch up on sleep while they are at it. There is one particular song in the movie which I won't specify to stay away from spoilers, and which I personally think was totally uncalled for in the situation. Perhaps the pacing or editing could have been a lot better, so as to give the movie a coherent flow.

In this movie Vidya Balan in the role of Bobby gets to change in a lot of getup (around 12) but most of them doesn't help the story in much ways. It looks as if she was made to change just for the sake of humor. While the film can be considered short at just 121 minutes, it feels somewhat dragged occasionally, and fails to let viewers invest their emotions into any of the characters except of the lead character.

That being said, the film does have its moments but those are just a few. I would also say it was a daring attempt to try to execute a movie with only a female lead, who for the most part remains out of glamor, and where she is also shown to break free from many of the stereotypical role a women is portrayed in Indian movies. I would also have to admire Vidya Balan for his acting skills as he was very convincing in all of those getup she did on screen. I would not blame the execution of the movie on her since the onus of the complete movie lied on her shoulders alone. And she did her role perfectly.

It would be fair to say that while the first half of Bobby Jasoos, raises viewers interest a little, second half helps it raise even further, but the final twist fails to live up to the expectation.

One more movie "Queen" was also released recently where the story was about a female lead who is shown to break free from various stereotypical roles, but it would be unfair to compare both of them, because while Queen was set up in vibrant and colorful foreign cities like Paris and Amsterdam and was more closer to today's generation, Bobby Jasoos relates more to India and typical Indian family drama, and was filmed totally in the streets of semi urban parts of Hyderabad which gave the movie a special flavor of India, more closer to most of the people of the country.

Combined with all other things I would rate the film a 6 out of 10. Extra 1 to give Bollywood a break from the male dominant masala movie and an attempt to create India's own Sherlock Holmes.

The storyline of this movie is not much interesting. Acting is good but story is not interesting as we expected.

Indian Cinema has certainly evolved over the years with experimental movies Queen, Holiday , Filmistaan to name few. Bobby Jasoos succeeds in experimenting the truth but final act pauses the entire movement of the film.

Bobby Jasoos tells the story of a wanna-be-detective(Vidya Balan) who has been given a secret assignment to search for people whose identities are provided by a multi-millionaire unknown guy.

Directed by Samir Shaikh , Bobby Jasoos starts off well with few hilarious moments in the first half with the doubt factor remains till the end. Unfortunately , the movie tumbles in the climax which could have been made better. Editing is loose. Screenplay is weak . Cinematography and art direction is simple. Music is below par. Background score does not gel well with film. Dialogues are good. It is Vidya Balan's show all the way. The actress gets into the character of Bobby Jasoos and gives a performance with aplomb.

Overall, a very brave niche flick with commendable first half and not so engrossing later half. Average 2.5/5