Assassin Siddiqui shoots in the air
BABUMOSHAI BANDOOKBAAZ Direction: Kushan Nandy Actors: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Bag, Jatin Goswami Rating:
Two professional assassins are on a bridge overlooking railway tracks, drinking and swapping tales about how they got into the business. One considers the other his teacher. He has even renamed himself Banke Bihari out of respect for the guru, Babu Bihari (Nawazuddin Siddiqui).
But then Banke (Jatin Goswami) learns that Babu gets paid much more than he does. Their conversation turns to inflation and how hard it has become for hired guns to operate profitably. In an inebriated state, they throw down a gauntlet — they will each murder three people. Whoever meets the target first, wins; the loser must quit the business.
Kushan Nandy’s movie opens with promise, and a quirky and authentic-seeming cast of characters. It’s mofussil Uttar Pradesh. When we first meet a guntoting Babu, Amitabh Bachchan songs play in the background. There’s a local strongman Dubey (Anil George) who enjoys watching his wife get rubbed down by a burly masseuse.
There’s also the razortongued Jiji (Divya Dutta), a kingmaker who lusts for power and curses in a stream. Her conversations with the local top cop (Bhagwan Tiwari) are laden with innuendo — and a silent power struggle.
Babu’s girlfriend Fulwa (Bidita Bag) adds oomph to the proceedings. Her expressive eyes tell of a young, lonely woman among wolves disguised as men.
Her comfort level with Nawazuddin in their love scenes adds a dimension of sensuousness to her role of the cobbler girl in love. But the characters are all flat, which is why it reads like a quirky thriller on paper, but in execution, is borderline ridiculous.
The film has all the ingredients, but their proportions are not right.