Himesh Reshammiya Melodies’ Badass Ravi Kumar (UA) is the story of police officer Ravi Kumar who spares no one. A reel on Indian secrets is with Laila (Kirti Kulhari) and it is being eyed by Zaid Bashir (Manish Wadhwa), a Pakistani official, who wants it at any cost so that the neighbouring country can destroy India. Police officer Ravi Kumar (Himesh Reshammiya) is selected to retrieve the reel and prevent it from getting into the wrong hands.
Himesh Reshammiya has written a story which used to work in the 1970s and 1980s. There is nothing new or fresh about the story as one has seen similar stories in countless films earlier. Kushal Ved Bakshi and Himesh Reshammiya’s screenplay is weak because it is just an assemblage of predictable scenes rather than a free-flowing drama. Characters are not established properly. There’s not much excitement for the viewers as there are no shocks or surprises but a flat and predictable drama with an ending that’s known to them right when the drama begins. There are very few high points in the screenplay. Bunty Rathore’s dialogues belong to an era gone by, but that’s also the flavour and feel of the film.
Himesh Reshammiya shows improvement over his past films in the sense that he is more camera-friendly now than he was in his earlier films. But he needs to work far more on his facial expressions and body language. Simona is alright as Madhubala. Kirti Kulhari makes her mark as Laila. Sunny Leone is not too impressive as Nisha. Prabhudevaa is ordinary as Carlos Pedro Panther, depending more on antics and style than on acting to communicate and perform. He does not spell terror although he is shown to be a powerful and vicious underworld don. Anil George is earnest as Bhujang. Sanjay Mishra (as Rana and Dedh Shaana) is wasted. Johny Lever is ordinary as Raja, but he entertains when he disguises as an Arab Sheikh. Manish Wadhwa lends fair support as Zaid Bashir. Prashant Narayanan has his moments as Interpol officer Mahavir Ahuja. Saurabh Sachdeva, in a special appearance, is okay as commissioner of police Awasthi. Vishal Goswami (as Jagawar Chaudhry’s younger son, Sooraj) and Morteza Aksari (as Jagawar Chaudhry’s older son, Shamsher) leave their marks. Mustafa Aksari is okay as Raftar Khan. Navneet Nishan (as Ravi Kumar’s mother), Sulbha Arya (as Ravi Kumar’s grandmother), Pawan Malhotra (as Ravi Kumar’s father), Rajesh Sharma (as Jagawar Chaudhry), Naresh Suri (as Samar Khan), Jason D’Souza (as young Ravi Kumar), Varun Buddhdev (as young Rakesh Kumar, elder brother of Ravi Kumar), Ankush Bharadwaj (as Sudhir), Deepak Diryani, Govardhan Asrani, Hariom Tiwari, Mohan Joshi, Param Garg, Rajesh Barsewa, Shivangi Verma (as Meena), Trupti Khamkar, and the rest of the actors provide fair support. Raza Murad’s commentary is impactful.
Keith Gomes’ direction is ordinary. Himesh Reshammiya’s music (with one song — Barsaat — composed by Sanjeev Darshan) is the best part of the film. Most of the songs are very well-tuned and hit numbers. Lyrics (Sameer Anjaan, Himesh Reshammiya, Mayur Puri, Kumaar, Shabbir Ahmed and Sonia Kapoor Reshammiya) go well with the retro mood of the film. Ganesh Acharya’s song picturisations are eye-filling. Himesh Reshammiya and Sanjay Chaudhary have done a fine job of the background music. Manoj Soni’s cinematography is of a good standard. The Oman locations are beautiful. Action and stunt scenes (by Sunil Rodrigues, Stunt Sam and Deni Jordan Kjurcijev) are quite thrilling. Suresh Selvarajan’s production designing is good. Ram Ishwar’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, Badass Ravi Kumar has hit music, exciting action, heavenly locations, and the retro feel as its plus points but, at the end of the day, it is a very ordinary fare with no novelty whatsoever. It will lose whatever steam it has, after the first weekend. People may poke fun at the 1980s’ feel of the film but several will, nevertheless, watch it for the experience.
Released on 7-2-’25 at Inox (daily 5 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: very good. Opening: very ordinary. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor at several places, and ordinary at some others.