Need for speed’ defines Bholaa, an all-out action film which delivers on its promise of no-holds-barred high-octane entertainment, but ultimately loses its way in a pileup of exhausting excess.

This remake of the 2019 Tamil hit Kaithi is trademarked by frenetic pace and frenzied action, replicating the life-or-death urgency of its original, and places Ajay Devgn at its front and centre as leading man and behind the camera as director. Devgn retains much of what made Kaithi a compelling watch, the plot borrowing heavily from Hollywood actioners like Con Air, Assault on Precinct 13 and the Die Hard films, with Kaithi’s director Lokesh Kanagaraj also citing the 2004 Kamal Haasan-starrer Virumaandi as an inspiration. Bholaa tweaks and twists some parts of the original, making one significant change — it opts for a gender reversal, with Tabu slipping into the part of the cop that was played by Narain in Kaithi. Also, unlike Karthi who played the protagonist in the original, Devgn’s Bholaa is presented as a superhuman whose mere mention evokes every kind of emotion in the listener, shock to awe, reverence to fear. Dry leaves fly in the air in a cesspool of sorts when Bholaa sets his feet on the ground, with an off-and-on commentary describing him in rhymed couplets as, “Samundar ki tarah iski pehchaan hain... upar se shaant aur andar se toofan hain.”

Bholaa, by description and action, is invincible, with even a leopard (CGI work, the film’s disclaimer assures us) running away as a meowing mess when it comes face-to-face with the man. The overt use of religious iconography also makes Bholaa veer away from Kaithi, with Bholaa even using a trident to annihilate his adversaries. “Jab yeh bhashm lagata hai pata nahin kitno ko bhashm kar deta hain”, is yet another way in which Bholaa’s derring- do is eulogised. The film’s obsession with him makes a full circle by naming itself after the character. Karthi’s name in Kaithi was Dilli, with Kaithi meaning ‘prisoner’.

It’s a prison that Bholaa also walks out from, immediately finding himself in the middle of a mess where policemen, in a reversal of sorts, are running for cover after busting a drug gang and intercepting a huge stash of cocaine. Tabu’s tough cop Diana — whose name becomes fertile ground for every villain in the film to address her as “daayan” — enlists Bholaa’s help to ferry a truckload of drugged cops to safety, even as the ferocious gang, led by its almost comical leader Ashwatthama (Deepak Dobriyal, snorting white powder as gleefully as he rolls his eyes), tries to tear down the police station, manned by a single constable (Sanjay Mishra), where the cache has been stored.

Bholaa unleashes itself with the kind of hyper-real hysteria that takes one back both to the attitude and aesthetics of Mad Max: Fury Road. Playing out over the course of a single night, Devgn sets up one action set piece after another, showing his expertise in fashioning and filming stunt choreography. The whole of Bholaa functions as almost a giant action-heavy frame, with gravity-defying kicks and chops and moves that sweep the spectrum between fantastic and farcical.

The action, which is the focal point of Bholaa, is mostly well done, but the fact that it comes on so thick and fast makes it feel laboured after a point. The use of 3D technology may have seemed like a great idea on paper, given the amount of action on display, but the fact that the film plays out mostly at night makes the 3D, which is plonked onto largely dark frames, seem almost redundant.

Also reduced to a superfluous state is Tabu, whose presence and importance in the plot becomes increasingly less as Devgn strides in, making her cop — who starts off mouthing daredevil lines like, “Vardi bandook ke saath nahin, bahaduri ke saath pehni jaati hain” — but is finally reduced to a helpless mess, relying on Bholaa’s brain and brawn to save the day.

A final assault on the senses is the film’s gratingly loud background music, with every action and emotion being exaggerated by Ravi Basrur’s deafening score. Apart from the blinding action, Kaithi also relied on strong emotions to tear up the audience. Bholaa, on the contrary, functions as one big stage for all its action, with emotions being subservient to the spectacle on display.

Bholaa’s excessiveness ultimately undoes what could have been a highly enjoyable action thriller, which, however, doesn’t end with this film. The end throws up a surprise in the form of a new player, showing us there is more to Bholaa’s story. We don’t mind a revisit, but next time, tone it down, will you?