Review

BICHHOO : Scorpion without the sting
It may sound naive but it’s surprisingly true that films with no logic, no definite storyline or good performances still do pass muster at the b-o. It’s become a fad among a section of filmmakers to get a decent starcast, a plagiarised storyline, some foot-tapping score and, not to forget, mindless action to make it acceptable to the audience. Bhagwan Chitra Mandir’s Bichhoo, by director Guddu Dhanoa is a glaring example of just such a film.

The film seems inspired by the Hollywood action thriller Leon: The Professional. There is an overdose of violence and some ordinary performances from the cast, though the film may well end up being an average earner due to the music and action, which may find a measure of acceptance in the North and interiors. The story is far from convincing and the director has focussed entirely on the inane action scenes for survival. The narrative is so fast-paced that it leaves you hardly any moment to think about what’s going on.

The story centres around Jeeva (Bobby Deol) who, owing to some strange reason, is transformed into a contract killer. His love for Kiran (Malaika) proves tragic for his entire family who are forced to commit suicide by the girl’s father. Kiran too commits suicide due to her father’s objection to her alliance with Jeeva. A seemingly never-ending saga of gory violence and murder ensues. Jeeva is hired by Madanbhai (Virendra Saxena) as a supari killer and is given a list of people to gun down.

The story takes a new turn here, as Jeeva shifts his operation to a new city. Here, he becomes friendly with another girl, Kiran (Rani Mukerji). Her father Bali (Ishrat Ali) is a drug peddler. Due to a fallout in some drug dealing the entire Bali family, excepting Kiran, is killed by ACP Devraj Khatri (Ashish Vidyarthi). Jeeva and Kiran are witnesses to the murder. The duo are on the run, to escape the wrath of Khatri and his cops, who are on the look-out for them. After a couple of songs and some uninteresting scenes they fall in love. Jeeva now decides to finish off the killers of the Bali family, as a labour of love for Kiran. His killing mission ends when he killed himself with dynamite strapped around his body after a streak of mindless action.

But what does Bichhoo mean? It’s a big riddle the audience has to grapple with in vain throughout the film.
Performance-wise there’s little to write about. Almost the entire cast hams its way through the footage, and there appears to be no serious effort by anyone to justify their characters. Bobby Deol appears to be stiff and has very little to do other than swinging to the songs or bashing the villians. Rani Mukerji ends up playing a badly-etched character where she even swears expletives. However, she still provides some lighter moments to an otherwise boring film. Ishrat Ali seems to have a stereotype approach to any character assigned to him. Ashish Vidyarthi overacts in a poorly conceived role and his portrayal of the role of a narcotics police chief into drug business is far from convincing. Malaika Arora Khan doesn’t add much glamour to the insignificant role. Others just fit the bill.

Director Guddu Dhanoa lives upto the expectations of handling an action thriller quite convincingly. He is quite good in the first half but the job seems to have been relegated to action director Tinu Verma and choreographers Chinni Prakash and Ganesh Acharya. His ploy to have songs with Shweta Shetty, Hans Raaj Anand and Malaika will pay rich dividends due to their mass appeal. Music director Anand Raaj Anand resurrects the film with a couple of melodious and foottapping numbers. Dil tote tote ho gaya and Sanu tak le have mass appeal while Jeevan mein jaane jana and Ishque ki zanjeero are well composed numbers.

Cinematographer Shripad Natu’s camerawork is quite imaginative, especially in the song picturisations.

P.N.

THE SPIRIT OF DHARAM
RANI MUKERJI--ADEPT AT PLAYING LOVE
BICHHOO-- LOVE SOOTHES, LOVE CAN ALSO STING
Bobby Deol--Keeeping a good man down for ever