Baby John Review: Despite being remake this action entertainer has its moments but failed in terms of content and narrative
Baby John Movie Rating: 2.5 Stars
Watched Baby John movie in Cinema. Let’s focus on the complete details, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this movie.
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Zara Zyanna, Rajpal Yadav and Jackie Shroff
Director: Kalees
Release Date: 25th December 2024 in cinema
Story: It is official adaption of Vijay hit movie Theri. John D’Silva (Varun Dhawan) is living a peaceful life with his daughter Khushi (Zara Zyanna) in Kerala. His world changes when Khushi school teacher Tara (Wamiqa Gabbi) saves a young girl from being trafficked and takes her to the police station in his van.
Tara discovers that John is actually DCP Satya Verma who was a powerful officer from Mumbai and faked his own death. The narrative delves into a flashback six years prior, where Baby John was married to Dr Meera (Keerthy Suresh) and involved in a high stakes battle against Babar Sher (Jackie Shroff) who is a powerful figure exploiting young women.
As Khushi’s life is put in danger, John is forced to step back into his past to protect her. What is he running from? what caused the rift between Nana ji & Satya Verma? What happened six years back and will be able to save her daughter. Watch this movie to know the answers.
Positives
1. Performances
2. Cinematography
3. Background music
4. Direction
5. Climax
Negatives
1. Length
2. Songs
3. Story
4. Uneven Screenplay
Durgesh Tiwary’s View: When I watched the trailer of this film planned to watch this movie in cinemas on first day as loved the trailer despite remake of Their and also It has Salman Khan cameo. DCP Satya Verma IPS locks horns with Babbar Sher, a notorious politician, by killing his son for committing a grave crime, which leads Babbar Sher to destroy Satya’s family. With his daughter Khushi as the lone survivor, Satya fakes his death and leads a peaceful life with Kushi in Kerala as Baby John. When Babbar Sher learns about Satya being alive, he threatens his peaceful life, which leads Satya to exact vengeance against Babbar Sher and protect Khushi.
Baby John is an official remake of Tamil film Theri (2016) which is directed by Atlee and starring Vijay. Theri itself was inspired by Hollywood film Homefront (2013). When remaking a film like that, the story should’ve been more developed, and the characters should’ve been stronger, especially with a big budget. Sticking to the same plot with a frame-by-frame remake, even using similar camera angles, raises the question of what’s new in this version. Kalees directed this movie with care, but he missed a key element: maintaining the emotional depth that made the original film so powerful. If he had focused on this more, the movie could’ve been a big hit. However, the writing team deserves credit for developing the character arcs of Wamiqa Gabbi, Rajpal Yadav, and Jackie Shroff, which were lacking in the original. An action sequence involving Rajpal Yadav stands out for its choreography and execution, making for one of the film’s highlights. Additionally, certain action blocks are visually rich and impactful, adding to the film’s entertainment value. Last but not the least, Varun Dhawan’s title card at the start of the movie is great and one would hope for more such title cards for our Hindi film actors.
John and Khushi’s endearing bond sets the tone for the movie, with lighthearted moments featuring Tara. But the best is reserved for the mass elevation scenes. The scenes that are memorable are John attacking the goons at night, Satya and Meera’s first meeting, Satya searching for Amba and what happens thereafter. The pre-interval block is when the film goes on another level, and it’ll be greeted with whistles and claps. Post-interval, Satya’s meeting with the parents and the shootout at his residence stand out. Varun Dhawan delivers a memorable performance as both a police officer and a caring father. Thaman’s score is another highlight, especially in the action scenes, which add intensity to the movie. The cinematography is good, and the production values are solid. Editing is crisp in the first half, but the second half could’ve used some trimming.
On the downside, for an action film, two hours and 40 minutes is too big a runtime. It could easily have been trimmed by half-an-hour. The editing is choppy and inconsistent. The songs don’t feel like they were originally created in Hindi. They could easily have been chopped, as none of the songs, except the baby shower one, add to the narrative. The major drawback of Baby John is the writing and a lackluster screenplay. There are significant potholes right from the inception. The story offers no novelty whatsoever and often relies on scenes from past hits to piece together incidents in the name of a story. Secondly, the emotional quotient is so weak that it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that despite the base of the film being so disturbing, the emotions fail to touch the heart. Thirdly, there is a concerted effort to ease the tension by adding touches of humor all through the drama, but the jokes and light moments almost always fall flat on their face. The biggest letdown is the failure to capture the emotional intensity of the girl’s death and the minister’s son’s death was the key turning points in the story.
Overall movie is an action-packed emotional drama that has its moments as an actioner, but in terms of content and narrative, it could have more impactful. While Thaman and Kalees do their part, the film, being a carbon copy of Vijay’s Theri, doesn’t quite match the original, even with a bigger budget. It might entertain fans of straightforward action dramas, but it lacks the emotional and intellectual depth to leave a lasting impression. It works only due to the clap worthy moments, the message, Varun Dhawan’s energetic performance and the cameo by Salman Khan. My view on this movie Time Pass.
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