Pooja Entertainment and Ali Abbas Zafar Films’ Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (UA) is the story of how two brave army men save India from annihilation by an evil man who works in close conjunction with China and Pakistan.
Firoz, also known as Freddie (Akshay Kumar), and Rakesh, also known as Rocky (Tiger Shroff), are brave army men who love their country so much that they can lay down their lives for her or eliminate anyone to save her honour. They have been court-martialled and suspended for not obeying orders, but they are one day summoned by Colonel Azad (Ronit Bose Roy) when India’s security is at stake. Captain Misha (Manushi Chhillar) has information that the person who has stolen the very important package from Indian soldiers will soon be waging a war against India. This war has the potential to wipe out the country. Who is the man who has stolen the package and what is inside the package? How is he going to destroy India? How do Freddie and Rocky save India?
Ali Abbas Zafar has written a story which may offer novelty as it talks of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and cloning but these concepts don’t appeal to the audience mainly because the screenplay (by Ali Abbas Zafar and Aditya Basu) is weak. For one, the drama becomes too technical, what with talk of AI, cloning, immortality, computers, hard disk, chips, energy, charging, recharging, access code, etc. Even that may have been entertaining (without being completely comprehensible) had the screenplay managed to involve and engage the audience. But the screenplay is so insipid that it disconnects the viewers from the proceedings instead of making them a part of the drama. It is not clear to the viewers why Colonel Azad, General Shergill (Manish Prakash Chaudhari), Freddie, Rocky and Misha take so long to understand who has stolen the package because once the identity of the thief is revealed and his back story is presented, they all appear to be duds for not guessing that it must be Kabir (Prithviraj Sukumaran) and only Kabir who can be the mastermind. What’s worse is that they are all aware that the biggest enemy is often a friend-turned-foe — and they often think aloud about this theory when trying to make guesses about his identity. Surely, they couldn’t be having so many friends-turned-foes that they can’t even come close to guessing that the evil man must be Kabir. Also, very strangely, while IT specialist Pam (Alaya F.) — who works closely with Freddie, Rocky and Misha — knows the golden rule that if you can’t get the access code, you can hack into the computer manually, Kabir (who is probably a bigger genius) doesn’t know this simple rule. It is weak links like the above which make the screenplay appear as if not much thought has gone into the scripting.
The first half fails to catch the audience’s attention because of the uninteresting build-up of the drama. The post-interval portion of the drama at least moves at a faster pace and has some revelations which make the viewers concentrate more and, therefore, feel more involved even if that may be superficially. Two major drawbacks of the screenplay are that the chemistry between Freddie and Rocky simply doesn’t come across although they work in complete tandem, and the light moments they share fail to create the entertainment they are designed to.
There is absolutely no romance in the screenplay, something which has been forced in the form of songs during the end rolling titles. Emotions are conspicuous by their absence. Dialogues, written by Suraj Gianani and Ali Abbas Zafar, are routine except at a few places where they are good.
Akshay Kumar looks disinterested in the drama as he goes through his role with little conviction. As Freddie, he does an ordinary job. Tiger Shroff is at least earnest in the role of Rocky but that’s about all. He, too, is unable to keep the viewers engaged or entertained. Prithviraj Sukumaran gives a good account of himself in the role of Kabir. Sonakshi Sinha, in a special appearance, is fair as Priya. Manushi Chhillar is average as Misha. Alaya F. is bubbly and natural in the role of IT specialist Pam. But both the heroines get limited scope. Ronit Bose Roy lends decent support as Colonel Azad. Manish Prakash Chaudhari has very little to do as General Shergill. Kinnar Boruah (as Chang), Pawan Chopra (as the defence secretary), Khalid Siddiqui (as the ambassador), Omna Harjani (as the agent), Mark Chiu (as Wong), Roshan Shanbagh (as Naved) and the others do as desired.
Ali Abbas Zafar’s direction is ordinary. He has concentrated on form far more than on the content. With a script which just doesn’t create excitement for the viewers, his narration also loses steam except for its visual appeal which is just not enough. Vishal Mishra’s music is fair but what was required are at least two-three hit/superhit songs. There are none! Irshad Kamil’s lyrics appear uninspired. Bosco-Caesar’s choreography is eye-filling but the impact is diluted because the songs aren’t very popular. Julius Packiam’s background music is nice but not extraordinary. Marcin Laskawiec’s cinematography is wonderful. Foreign locales are superb. Craig Macrae and Parvez Shaikh’s action and stunts afford thrill but the weak script dilutes the overall impact. Production designing (by Acropolis (Rajnish Hedao, Snigdha Basu and Sumit Basu)) is of a high standard. Steven Bernard’s editing is fairly sharp.
On the whole, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan is too ordinary a fare to make any mark at the box-office. Given its huge budget, it will cut a sorry picture at the ticket counters and entail huge losses despite the festive release (Eid today (April 11), Ram Navmi on April 17).
Released on 11-4-’24 at Inox (daily 9 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Inox Pictures. Publicity: very good but not impactful enough. Opening: fair (aided by the Eid holiday; considering that it is Eid today, opening should’ve been far better). …….Also released all over. Opening ranged from dull to fair.