Sleek action and lots of blood does not make a good movie. And Varun Dhawan-starrer Baby John is a good example of that. A remake — fans say it’s a scene by scene copy — of Atlee’s Theri, the film, directed by Kalees, neither wows nor woos the audience.
Dhawan plays John, a mousey bakery owner in the picturesque backwaters of Kerala with a six-year-old daughter, Khushi (Zara Zyanna). But from the very beginning it is evident that the mouse was once a tiger, even though his past as a supercop is delved into much later. And that’s one of the problems with Baby John, it is very predictable so there is nothing that comes as a surprise. When a trafficked girl is brought to the local police station in John’s van by Khushi’s teacher Tara (Wamiqa Gabbi), John’s identity is compromised and his past as a cop catches up with him.
In his past, John was DCP Satya Verma who was a saviour and hero to the underprivileged, especially children. He kills the son of the all-powerful Babbar Sher or Nana (Jackie Shroff) for raping a minor and incurs Nana’s wrath. Predictably, the revenge is exacted on his wife, doctor Meera Verma (Keerthy Suresh) and mother. Satya survives the assault and is able to escape with his one-year-old daughter and chooses a life of anonymity, till Nana figures out he is alive and comes for him once more.
Varun Dhawan gives the role — both that of a father and as a cop — his all and is one of the few things that makes the film watchable. His chemistry with Zara adds flavour to a film that puts all its effort into the action sequences to the detriment of the rest of the movie. But the problem is the male saviour trope is now done to death and is not very palatable, especially when the person is fighting crimes like trafficking and rape.
In fact, the two women in the film — Keerthy Suresh and Wamiqa Gabbi, who is also an undercover cop (don’t ask why an undercover cop was needed in a backwater town) — have less to do than even Rajpal Yadav who plays John’s sidekick and is named, very obviously, Ram Sevak. Neither have any chemistry with Dhawan, nor do their stories have any impact on the main narrative. Yes, little Zara has a significant role, but more as a plot point than to establish an emotional connection.
The real star of Baby John is the action, which is both beautifully choreographed and sleekly shot. There is enough slitting of throats, chopping, shooting, bashing and slashing to make even the most bloodthirsty audience happy whether it is John fighting with goons or taking on Nana himself. One doesn’t ask questions like why there is no action against an officer who goes around pummeling some bad guys and off-ing many.
When Nana re-enters their lives John goes back to being Satya Verma and returns to Mumbai where he proceeds to break down the trafficking ring run by Nana, blow up his warehouses and kill two of his most trusted men. Nana, predictably kidnaps the child, setting the final scene. Jackie Shroff does the monstrous Babbar Sher with aplomb, a character that is truly deadly.
The show stealer however is the cameo at the end of the film. Salman Khan’s entry as Agent Bhaijaan is nothing short of epic and the claps for the scene are richly deserved. And these little pluses are what make the film an okay one-time watch, that too if you haven’t watched the original film.