Bhoomi Movie Review: Baba Is Back With A Bang!

Ever since it was reported that Sanjay Dutt will make his comeback to Bollywood with a revenge drama by Mary Kom maker Omung Kumar, we have been eager to see what the deadly Dutt brings to the table after a hiatus. But does Bhoomi live up to the hype?

Set in Agra, the film revolves around Arun Sachdev (Sanjay), a widower and a functional alcoholic, who dotes on his daughter Bhoomi (Aditi Rao Hydari). When Bhoomi is kidnapped and gang raped by a local goon Dhauli (Sharad Kelkar) and his two accomplices for spurning the advances of his cousin on the eve of her marriage, Arun initially decides to let the law take its course.

However, when the judiciary fails to punish the perpetrators and Bhoomi is attacked for the second time, Arun decides to take the law in his own hands and goes on a rampage to avenge the rape of his daughter. How Arun manages to do this with the help of his loyal pal Taj Mishra (Shekhar Suman), forms the rest of the plot.

At the outset, Sanju Baba is totally impressive as the anguished father/wrathful avenger and it is a sheer delight to watch him on the big screen, especially because of his imposing physical presence.Whether it be humourous or intense scenes or action scenes, Sanjay is in top form on all fronts. Aditi looks quite ethereal as Bhoomi and puts in a decent performance, though most of her screen time is spent weeping. Shekhar Suman is quite juvenile as Sanjay’s friend while Sharad Kelkar is menacingly effective as the baddie Dhauli Singh.

As for the film, if you have seen Maatr and Mom, there is nothing new that Bhoomi has to offer as such, except the macho presence of the deadly Dutt. Also, the film is full of stock characters- insensitive cops, a sneering public prosecutor, judgmental neighbours worried about ‘mohalla ki badnaami’ following the rape, a spineless fiancé who runs away at the slight hint of trouble and the loyal sidekick who dies while trying to save the day.

There is something very 80s-90s about the treatment given to the film and you may feel transported back in time to an era of simplistic plots and black and white characters. Even though Sridevi’s recent release Mom had a similar plot, it was interesting to see how a mild-mannered school-teacher would exact vengeance on her daughter’s rapists, but over here, we all know that Sanju Baba will soon start bashing heads together and so, there is nothing to keep you on the edge of your seat as such.

However, if you are a die-hard Sanjay Dutt fan, Bhoomi could very well make your weekend…