Film Review - Bin Bulaye Baraati

Dhanraj Films’ Bin Bulaye Baraati (UA) is a comedy about a misplaced suitcase of jewels which Durjan Singh (Gulshan Grover), a dreaded underworld don, has given Gajraj (Mukesh Tiwari) to sell. The suitcase gets in the hands of AD (Aftab Shivdasani), a small-time thief. From here begins a free-for-all as the chase for the suitcase begins. AD and his girlfriend, Shreya (Priyanka Kothari), reach a village with the loot.

Accompany them are Murari (Rajpal Yadav), Hazari (Sanjay Mishra) and Cheeta Singh (Vijay Raaz). Hot on their trail are Gajraj and his deputy, Ranjeet (Hemant Pandey). Thirsting for Gajraj’s blood for obvious reasons is Durjan Singh.

In the village, there are Sajjan Singh (Johny Lever), the gay brother of Durjan Singh, his dance teacher, Masterji (Razak Khan), Rajjo (Shweta Tiwari), Loha Singh (Manoj Joshi), Ginni (Shweta Keswani) and Ajay Prakash (Shakti Kapoor) who has lost his mental balance. In the jumble for the suitcase, it is revealed that Rajjo is the daughter of Ajay Prakash.

There’s also an unrelated track of Pralaya Pratap (Om Puri), a police officer, and his senior, police commissioner Sharma (Neeraj Vora).  Mrs. Kusum Sharma (Rati Agnihotri) is the commissioner’s wife who bonds very well with Pralaya Pratap.

Praful Parekh and Mohammad Salim’s story is pathetically poor. Their screenplay cares little for logic but what’s bad is that even the scenes meant to evoke laughter rarely do that. Since the story line is very thin and the screenplay, very sloppy, the audience just does not connect with the characters or the drama. Most of the time, the jokes are so silly that they defy common sense. Even the dialogues (Dilip Shukla) are too ordinary and oftentimes, awfully poor too.

Aftab Shivdasani fails to electrify, more because there is nothing for him to make a mark. Priyanka Kothari’s performance is ok. Gulshan Grover is terrifying but his efforts are wasted in a venture of this standard. Johny Lever’s comedy is hardly hilarious. Mukesh Tiwari is fair. Shweta Tiwari performs quite well. Om Puri is at least according his status. Rati Agnihotri and Neeraj Vora seem to look noticeably uncomfortable to be a part of this dull project. Rajpal Yadav and Sanjay Mishra irritate more than entertain. Vijay Raaz is sincere. Manoj Joshi is reasonably nice. Hemant Pandey stands is ok. Shakti Kapoor leaves a mark. Dinesh Lamba (as the police hawaldar), Razak Khan and Shweta Keswani fill the bill. Mallika Sherawat’s dance is sexy, alluring and mass-appealing.

Chandrakant Singh’s direction is feeble with poor script. Anand Raaj Anand’s music is about the only good point in the movie. The Chutney, Shalu and Kismat songs – all item numbers – are fast-paced and well-tuned. Lyrics (Anand Raaj Anand, Satya Prakash and Anjan Sagari) are fair. Ganesh Acharya and Raju Khan’s choreography is helpful.

Mahendra Verma’s stunts are alright. Camerawork, by Johny Lal, is satisfactory. Sets (Narendra Rahurikar) are average. Editing (Pranav Dhiwar) could’ve been far sharper. Production values are common.

In general, Bin Bulaye Baraati is an average film with lack of staying values at box office.