Baaghi 3

Hindi films are fast turning into no-brainers. Earlier comedies took the leave-your-brains-behind route and now action films are telling us to do exactly that. We've been told to enjoy the action set pieces and not trouble ourselves into finding any strand of logic in such offerings. Baaghi 3 faithfully adheres to this new formula. Sample this -- a villain (Jaideep Ahlawat) kidnaps Indians along with their families and smuggles them to Syria so that they can be turned into human bombs.

Slo-mo walks are cool; unrealistic action sequences are engaging; acting being the least important thing in the film is also fine -- but not at the cost of story. Especially when the setting of the film reminds you of entertaining 'Tiger Zinda Hai', starring Salman Khan. I felt violated after watching 'Baaghi 3'. And if you have watched its trailer, you exactly know what to expect, and you kinda know what I am talking about.

Ironically, just as this week's Disney-Pixar's Onwards, Baaghi 3 is also about the growing bond of two brothers over their dead father. Continuing the identity from the first two instalments, Ronnie (Tiger Shroff) has a brother Vikram (Riteish Deshmukh), who cries after watching Judwaa and Judwaa 2. He's oversensitive about things and Ronnie helps him to get into police.

Indian fans don't like when their heroes are at the receiving end of kicks and punches. If you are India's foremost action star Tiger Shroff, getting beaten up can apparently make your film go from a hit to an also ran. The actor had explained the audience's middling response to his Student of The Year 2, saying he's seen as a one-man army and his fans couldn't digest him being beaten up by college toughies.

BAAGHI 3 is the story of a man against a terrorist organization. Ronnie (Tiger Shroff) is the younger brother of Vikram (Riteish Deshmukh). Their father was a cop, Charan Chaturvedi (Jackie Shroff), who had died when both were young. Charan knew that Ronnie is braver out of the two and hence he made Ronnie promise that he'll take care of Vikram. When they grow up, Vikram joins the police force at Lohamandi Police Station, Agra.

Filmmaker Ahmed Khan seems to have a fetish for installation art, that too the kind that involves modes of transport. So you have one action sequence shot against the backdrop of several hundreds of colourful cars piled up, one atop another, in a circle. In the middle of this car, Tiger Shroff displays his chops.

When Tiger Shroff says he's never got a good review in his life, it sounds like a career goal he's determined to maintain and works ardently to go one better in Baaghi 3. If Baaghi and Baaghi 2 took astonishing strides in absurdity and embodied Bollywood's enthusiasm for peddling trash as entertainment, Baaghi 3 hits rock bottom of the birdbrained franchise through its course of two and a half hours of reason defying, mind numbing, soul destroying free-for-all.

Yes Tiger Shroff fans, he does take off his shirt in Baaghi 3. Unlike some Bollywood films of the past decade in which male stars have stripped off their tops for no apparent reason right before a big fight, here an excuse to display that ripped torso is written into the script: the hero's shirt catches fire so he has to tear it off to save himself.

The very first shot tells you about the distance between Baaghi 3 and its source material, the Tamil movie Vettai (2012). Vettai was set in Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, while much of Baaghi 3 plays out in Syria. Yup, the same one, and if it appears barely touched by war and its cobble-stoned streets and tiled structures betray a distinctive European influence, that is because Serbia is standing in for the West Asian nation.

The only reason for Baaghi 3 to exist is this: to showcase the amazingly ripped bod of Tiger Shroff, who is poetry when in motion, and faltering verse when there's emotion. You'd think that combo would be just fine for a film which takes its 'kuchh bhi' attitude when it comes to plot points, with as much seriousness as it does it's relentless focus on our lithe hero who flows over multiple baddies in multiple locations, straddling planes and automobiles and, yes, tanks, to stand before us, bloodied but unbowed.

Ahmed Khan is back with Baaghi 3, an action drama with two brothers Ronnie (Tiger Shroff) and Vikram (Riteish Deshmukh) in the mix. As it turns out, Ronnie, the younger one is a tough guy while the elder brother Vikram, a bit of a wimpy kid. Fittingly they are sons to an upright cop (Jackie Shroff), who dies while in action in the line of duty. No surprise then that Ronnie is the one entrusted with the task of looking after Vikram by their father. In a clever twist, the Vikram joins the police force with a little help from his brother Ronnie.

Won,t say chori but in a lighthearted manner will call it a sina jori ( pride, stubbornness in a way) from an innocent enthusiastic movie fanatic. Where you find the curd from the 2012 Tamil blockbuster VETTAI (starring Madhavan, Arya) suddenly poured in the the katori ( vessel) of Salman/Varun starrer JUDWAA. There is no logic behind what you just read and the same applies for this action packed mayhem done only to cash on the popularity of the franchise and its lead Tiger Shroff.

Rippling muscles, six-pack abs and a chiseled face. Meet Ronnie - the handsome hunk whose only job is to magically appear from thin air whenever his elder brother Vikram is in trouble. He will bash up the bad guys to a pulp and go back to minding his own business. But in a sudden twist, Vikram is kidnapped by a terrorist group called Jaish-e-Lashkar in Syria and Ronnie sets off on a rescue mission.

Baaghi 3, the third instalment of the super successful Baaghi franchise, remains true to its genre through its 143-minute runtime. Which means, there's truckloads, no tank and chopper-loads of action, but zero logic. Amid corona scare, we walk into an empty theatre, deciding to stay away from the popcorn and coffee this time, because, you know, precautions. But 10 minutes into the film, we needed coffee more than Delhi needs hand sanitisers RN.

At the halfway point of Baaghi 3, the hero vows to wipe Syria off the face of the map. The embattled country comes to such a sorry pass because two of its rogue citizens dare to needle the one-man army embodied by lead actor Tiger Shroff. The message is clear: do not mess with a muscle-flexing demolition man, even if you happen to be a whole nation!

One Word Review Baaghi3: ENTERTAINER. Well-packaged *mass entertainer* that will roar at BO... Action is its USP and #TigerShroff, the soul, one-man army... #Riteish, #Shraddha in good form... Another HIT from #SajidNadiadwala-#AhmedKhan combo. #Baaghi3Review