Opinion: Varun Dhawan’s Baby John struggles to carry the massy actioner despite his best efforts

Atlee's action flick 'Baby John' misses the 'Jawan'-like punch, despite Varun Dhawan and Jackie Shroff's best efforts.

Massy, massy, massy but fails to be classy! This chants in Varun Dhawan-starred Baby John‘s background score. Produced by Atlee, the film is large in scale, promising unlimited action with a South Indian tadka in it. The film has Atlee’s signature elements i.e. larger-than-life action sequences, loud and over-the-top background score, deep emotional drama and songs featuring 100 background dancers. Well, this time, he collaborates with Varun Dhawan who has never been part of such a grand action film before. But was it successful? Was it another like Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan? In simple words, the answer would be no. But yes, credits must still go to director Kalees and the entire cast of Baby John including Jackie Shroff, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi and Rajpal Yadav for their efforts and everything they put into the project.

What is Baby John about?

In a scenic location, John (Varun Dhawan) lives peacefully with his daughter Khushi. His life gets disrupted when Khushi’s teacher Tara, (Waqiba) and he comes across a dangerous sex-trafficking gang who abducts minor girls from India and sells them as slaves to foreign countries. One day, when the gang attempts to kill Khushi, John transforms back into Satya and destroys everyone. There is a backstory running…six years ago, Satya served as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Mumbai, living a happy life with his mother while standing up against the injustices he encountered. He meets Meera (Keerthy Suresh), and they fall in love. As their lives seem perfect, he investigates the case of a missing 10th-grade girl and discovers that she was abducted, raped and killed by the son of a powerful man Nanaji (Jackie Shroff). What happens next is the story. Revealing more would spoil the experience for you!

Performances in The Film

Varun Dhawan, in the role of police officer, struggles to carry the film’s strength. While his high-octane action scenes are hit, he couldn’t deliver the cop drama that audiences might be hoping for. Jackie Shroff as antagonist is phenomenal. Whenever, he appears on-screen, there’s something about his husky voice and hypnotic eyes that you simply can’t miss. Keerthy Suresh, who makes her debut in Bollywood as Meera, brings a refreshing charm to the screen. Wamiqa Gabbi’s performance as Tara is decent, but her character lacks significant impact on the story. Rajpal Yadav, as the constable, delivered his role well. Unfortunately, his usual comedic scenes failed to leave a lasting impression on the narrative.

For the first 40 minutes, Baby John fails to engage the audience. There’s no clear direction and the dynamic of the cute girl bossing around her dad feels ineffective. Well, in short, nothing makes sense until Varun Dhawan enters the police station and a fellow inspector calls him Satya. That’s when the story begins but it still doesn’t manage to captivate. While a few action scenes are somewhat engaging, the story remains lacking. The saddest part is even Rajpal Yadav’s comedy couldn’t recover the film.

Although, he did one scene that got the loudest cheer from audience. Keerthy Suresh and Varun Dhawan share good chemistry, but their fresh pairing isn’t good enough to make the film work.

The second half

After intermission, the film picks up with a bit of excitement, and you can see Varun returning to its beast mode. Well, still what keeps the film interesting is Jackie Shroff’s performance as the villain. He’s spot on, and in a full masala film like this, a strong antagonist is a key. After all, why would you watch the hero defeat a weak villain? The film also incorporates social issues, but it feels like we’ve have seen such stories a thousand times before in theatres. Movies like Jai Ho, Jawan and Singham followed a similar formula, and personally that’s not what I was hoping for. Despite few action sequences, nothing seemed to work in this film, not even the songs, which is usually important in a typical Bollywood movie like this.

Final Verdict

Overall, Baby John doesn’t offer much apart from the action. Also, don’t expect Salman Khan to save the day in this film as it’s just a cameo, folks. Please stop wasting his potential on such brief appearances. Otherwise, you might enjoy Baby John only if you’re a fan of action movies without much logic or Jackie Shroff. For everyone else, the film is likely to be a disappointment.