Baaghi 2 Movie Review: A Silly Sequel

Two years ago, in Baaghi, Tiger Shroff had played the rebellious Ronnie, who embarks on a mission to save his ladylove from the clutches of the baddie but this time, the stakes are high for Ronnie, who is a Special Forces commando on duty in Kashmir.

When he gets a call from his former girlfriend Neha (Disha Patani), who claims that her daughter has been kidnapped, Ronnie takes a leave of absence and sets off to trace and rescue the kid, despite the lack of evidence pertaining to her existence itself. On this journey, Ronnie has to deal with cynical cops, drug junkies and contract killers who are hell-bent on obstructing his personal mission. How Ronnie deals with these challenges and saves the day, forms the rest of the plot.

Tiger is looking quite mature with his crew cut and light stubble, but the lad still has to learn a lot about acting as such. However, the actor is earnest enough, which may be considered a redeeming virtue. Disha Patani, who plays his former girlfriend, adds nothing of value to the plot with her performance. Manoj Bajpayee, who plays the top cop in Goa, seems wasted in the role, though he does put in a decent effort. Deepak Dobriyal is average while Prateik Babbar hams like his life depends on it. However, it is Randeep Hooda as the joint-smoking cop LSD, who takes the cake. Hooda is easily the highlight of the film as the irreverent cop with braided hair, an untidy beard and funky clothes. In fact, he impressed me so much that I wish the makers make a separate film with his character LSD as the protagonist.

As for the film itself, though the plot has merit, the execution is so sluggish that you are bound to be bored, when not laughing at some of the absurdities in the movie. It is evident that not much thought has gone into the writing. Consider this- during the climax fight sequence, when Ronnie launches an all-out assault on the villain’s lair and there are machine guns blazing and bombs exploding and helicopters crashing to the ground, the top baddie is seen fitting a silencer on his pistol!! (I mean, really, dude!? Your world is burning to hell out there and you think a silenced pistol is going to be of much help?) The scenes between Tiger and Disha lack chemistry and it is tough to imagine why an Army officer would risk his life for someone, who was too spineless to stand up to her dad when he put his foot down and opposed their marriage.

As for the action sequences, they will remind you of the video arcade game ‘Contra’ that we used to play as kids and I literally caught myself yawning a couple of times during the climactic action sequence. There is nothing to make you sit up and notice and after watching the movie, it struck me that the action in the prequel ‘Baaghi’ was much better executed.

In conclusion, Baaghi 2 is not worth a watch all, unless if you love Randeep Hooda and want to see him let his hair down (literally!)