Bunty Aur Babli   Producer: Aditya Chopra and YashRaj Films Director: Shaad Ali Sahgal Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherji, special appearance by Aishwarya Rai Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy Lyrics: Gulzar Genre: Comedy Recommended Audience: Parental Guidance Film Released on: 27 May 2005 Reviewed by: Shruti Bhasin  - Rating: 7.0 / 10   Let us know what you think about this review Music Review

For a director such as Shaad Ali, whose first film Saathiya, was critically acclaimed and won numerous awards, the expectations are certainly high for the next project. Sadly, Bunty Aur Babli is nowhere near the first film, but its still entertaining to a certain degree.

The story is simple with big names to keep the viewers watching. This film has many light-hearted scenes and great performances. The story begins with two small town dreamers, Rakesh (Bunty) and Vimmi (Babli). They both have goals they want to achieve, but how? When fate doesn’t help them get on track, they discover one another. One thing leads to another and they are pulling fast-capers with an ambitious inspector Dashrath (Amitabh Bachchan) hot on their tail. Will he be able to stop the duo?

The movie is filled with masti for the viewer, but there just isn’t that Oomph that makes you really keep the movie in mind once it ends. Its like one of those films that you’ll watch once, smile, laugh and then forget as a good time-pass movie. This is the main flaw of the film. Another flaw was the hype one expects from seeing the first on-screen appearance of the Bachchans together to be cool, but its really nothing special. One thing is for sure, their qawali Kajra Re is quite good. Of course, you could look past these, as well as seeing two people pull off crimes so simply, and just enjoy the film for what it is.

Truth be told, the lead pair have amazing on-screen chemistry which makes their story all the more real. The film looks fresh compared to the other trashy films we’ve had to endure this year, so its definitely recommended in terms of new films to watch. Abhishek Bachchan keeps the movie together, while Rani Mukherji is very bubbly and vivacious. Amitabh Bachchan is as good as usual.

The music is another one of the highlights of this venture; throughout the weeks the music has grown on me. Dhadak Dhadak, Chup Chup Ke, and Kajra Re are the pick of the lot.

Overall, the performances are very good from the three main characters, the music is fresh, the locales of UP are nice, and it’s a family film so its recommended to watch at least once (if not in the cinema, then at least the DVD).