Fox Star Studios and Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment’s Baaghi 2 (UA) is an action mystery thriller, adapted from Telugu film Kshanam. It is the second film in the Baaghi series.
Ranveer Pratap Singh (Tiger Shroff) is an army Captain. One day, he receives a phone message from his ex-girlfriend, Neha (Disha Patani), seeking his help. Despite their break-up years ago, Ranveer alias Ronnie takes leave and goes to Goa to help the damsel in distress because he had promised her, during their courtship days, that he would be there for her whenever she would need him. Ron nie and Neha were actually all set to marry but she had walked out on him minutes before the wedding.
While Ronnie is still single, Neha is married to Shekhar Salgaonkar (Dar shan Kumar) and the two have a little daughter, Rhea (Barbie Sharma). On reaching Goa, Ronnie is shocked to learn from Neha that two months back, Rhea had been kidnapped by unknown people while she had gone to drop her to school on the first day but the police had not been able to trace the child. Ronnie has no clue whatsoever, yet he begins the search in all earnestness. He only has a tiny photograph of Rhea. Neha claims, she doesn’t have any other picture of Rhea. She doesn’t even introduce Ronnie to her husband, Shekhar, or drug-addict brother-in-law, Sunny Salgaonkar (Prateik Babbar).
Ronnie hires a car from a car rental agency run by Usman Langda (Dee pak Dobriyal) but soon realises that Usman works for Sunny Salgaonkar as a drugs carrier. The mystery dee pens once Ronnie issues an advertisement in newspapers about the missing Rhea. One man, claiming to be from outside Goa, contacts Ron nie and tells him that Rhea is his mis sing daughter. Ronnie also gets an opportunity to meet Neha’s husband, Shekhar, who tells him that he (Shek har) and Neha did not have a child!
On the police front, if investigating police inspector Sharad Kute (Sunit Morarjee)is a lecherous guy, DIG Ajay Shergill (Manoj Bajpayee) and senior police inspector Loha Singh Dhull alias LSD (Randeep Hooda) are also intriguing officers who ope rate quite weirdly. So what is the truth?
Does Rhea exist in reality? If so, is she Neha and Shekhar’s daughter? Or is she not their daughter? If she doesn’t exist or if she is not Neha and Shekhar’s daughter, why is Neha clai ming that she is their daughter? Is Neha lying? Or is Shekhar lying? Has Rhea been actually kidnapped? If so, who are the kidnappers? What is the motive of the kidnappers? Is Rhea still alive? If Rhea wasn’t even kidnapped, what is the whole fuss about?
The original story was written by Adivi Sesh, and screenplay, by Ravikant Perepu and Adivi Sesh. The adaptation of the story in Hindi is done by Sajid Nadiadwala. The biggest plus point of the story is that it has a number of turns and twists. However, despite the twists and turns, it appears implausible at times because of its structure. Neha not introducing Ronnie to her husband, Shekhar, looks weird and is a giveaway of sorts. Similarly, Shekhar’s behaviour in front of the police officers is quite strange. Another weak point is that the story takes too long to come to the point, thereby testing the audience’s patience.
The screenplay, written by Jojo Khan, Abbas Heirapurwala and Niraj Kumar Mishra, is not too impressive. For one, several characterisations are giveaways in a way and, therefore, reduce the impact of the mystery. Secondly, the screenplay is long-winding and quite boring. Thirdly, the implausibility factor keeps troubling the viewers as the drama looks contrived at several places instead of being a seamless one. Fourthly, the emotional connect of the characters with the audience is far lesser than what it should’ve been. This is probably because the romantic part of the drama is weak. But this is not to say that the entire screenplay is weak. The twists and turns a little before interval are very shocking and interesting and they give the viewers a jolt. The interval point, too, has a shocking impact on the audience but it is also a minus point. The point of Ronnie keeping his promise to Neha of being there for her whenever she would need him, will appeal a lot to the womenfolk. Romance is dull. Emotions fail to touch the heart.
Dialogues by Hussain Dalal, Shaan Yadav (associate dialogue writer) and Abbas Dalal (additional dialogue writer) are not half as punch-packed as they ought to have been. Yes, there are a couple of good dialogues but they are few and far between.
Tiger Shroff does quite well. He looks handsome and super-fit and ex cels in action scenes and stunts. His acting is fairly nice. Disha Patani looks pretty and acts reasonably well. Her dialogue delivery needs improvement. Manoj Bajpayee is fairly effective as DIG Ajay Shergill. Randeep Hooda is decent as senior police inspector Loha Singh Dhull (LSD). Prateik Babbar lends fair support as Sunny Salgaonkar. Darshan Kumar makes his presence felt as Shekhar Sal gaonkar. Deepak Dobriyal has a very hackneyed characterisation; he is good as Usman Langda. Baby Barbie Sharma is okay as little Rhea. Ashu tosh Singh makes a mark as Luck now police officer Anand Tyagi. Vipin Sharma is sincere in the role of Neha’s father but he is almost wasted. Sunit Morarjee has his moments as the lecherous police inspector, Sharad Kute. Jacqueline Fernandez’s dance on the ‘Ek do teen’ song is energetic but she is bound to be compared with Madhuri Dixit because of the song – and that comparison will not be good for her. Shaurya Bhardwaj (as Briga dier Walia), Upender Chauhan (as Ronnie’s colleague, Captain Bilal), Kumar Saurav (as Chhotu), Kishor Shrivastav (as Neha’s neighbour), Pushy Anand (as the school principal), Vivek Pandey (as the watchman), Ashwin Kaushal (as the rich owner of the bungalow), Manoj Raj Dutt (as the joint commissioner of police), and the others lend average support.
Ahmed Khan’s direction is routine. His narrative style fails to make the proceedings lively or exciting. Music (Mithoon, Arko, Sandeep Shirodkar, Gourav-Roshin and Pranay) is not upto the mark. Of the songs, the two remixes of old hits (‘Ek do teen’ and ‘Mundiyan’) are appealing but the other original numbers are ordinary. Lyrics (Kumaar, Ginny Diwani, Arko and Sayeed Quadri) are average. Song picturisations (by Ahmed Khan, Gan esh Acharya and Rahul Shetty) are alright. Julius Packiam’s background music ought to have been far superior. Santhana Krishnan Ravichand ran’s cinematography is nice. Action and stunts (by Ram-Lakshman, Kecha Khampakdee and Shamshir Khan) are excellent. Production de signing (by Laxmi Keluskar and San deep Meher) is appropriate. Ramesh war S. Bhagat’s editing leaves some thing to be desired.
On the whole, Baaghi 2 has abundant action but lacks in other ingredients of an entertainer. It has taken a flying start (because of great action, fantastic promotion and the Good Friday holiday) and will, therefore, keep its distributors safe. The producer, of course, has made a huge profit under-production.