BUNTY AUR BABLI 2 is the story of two pairs of conmen. 15 years after the events of the first film, Rakesh (Saif Ali Khan) and Vimmi (Rani Mukerji) are now settled in Phursatganj. They have a son, Pappu, and have completely left the con job. One day, Inspector Jatayu Singh (Pankaj Tripathi) arrests them for conning a group of middle aged men. They were promised a trip to a country called Virgin Island and each person in the group had paid Rs. 5 lakhs to a couple - Kunal Singh (Siddhant Chaturvedi) and Sonia Rawat (Sharvari).

After subjecting oneself to the banality of a completely uncalled for sequel, this exercise of then writing about it is even more tiresome. Fatigue has already set in. Is it possible to talk about Bunty Aur Babli 2 without speaking of its predecessor? No! If anything, this new instalment makes us yearn for the original even more. Especially when a forgettable tune plays onscreen and we reminisce about the old soundtrack which is still fresh in our heads.

Bunty Aur Babli's journey that began 15 years ago, in the first instalment, ended with them leaving the con life and settling down as ordinary middle-class couple in Fursatganj, Uttar Pradesh. In the sequel, the story of the pilot characters - Rakesh and Vimmi Trivedi - played by Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherji, respectively, starts from the same colourful town. Rakesh is a ticket collector and Vimmi is a typical happy-go-lucky middle-class housewife who continues to carry retro and loud costumes.

It's been over 15 years since their last con and Rakesh (Saif Ali Khan) and Vimmi Trivedi (Rani Mukerji), once known as Bunty aur Babli are now living a regular small-town life in Phursatganj Uttar Pradesh. Rakesh is a railway ticket collector and Vimmi is a screechy middle-class housewife. Performing in loud and colourful clothes during festivities and occasions in their railway colony, is the only excitement in their otherwise routine life.

Yeh world hai na, world? There are two types of people in it. One who makes the right movie at the right time and moves on and another who tries to cash in on the past in the present and falls on their face. Back in 2005, when social media and small town stories of Bollywood had yet to become a thing, a pair of fanciful youngsters turned flashy into an attraction, almost an aesthetic through their humorous scams, cheerful interactions and flamboyant persona in Director Shaad Ali's colourful con caper.

The 2005 movie Bunty Aur Babli ended with the suggestion that its lovable confidence tricksters had returned to the game after enduring unbearable domesticity. Actors Rani Mukerji and Abhishek Bachchan took one last slow-mo walk towards the camera and promised they were back to swindling the gullible.

In the first part of Bunty Aur Babli (2005), Amitabh Bachchan's character Dashrath explains his action of letting the con couple go scot-free with what loosely translates as: "The law is supposed to eliminate the crime, not the criminal." That statement lent spine to a film that could have remained content with being a vastly but aimlessly entertaining heist comedy.

Bunty and Babli worked for several reasons. Apart from the great music, one of the primary ones was that it tapped into the frustrated aspirations of small-town India. That year was 2005. More than 15 years later, the sequel is bogged down by the closing distance between the two Indias, the desperate tapping into the verve of the 2005 film, and confusion about what is Bunty and Babli 2 all about.

After just 15 minutes into Bunty Aur Babli 2, one realises what a terribly written and poorly-executed film it is. The original, which most of us so thoroughly enjoyed when it first released 16 years ago, was best left untouched and director Varun V. Sharma should have just followed this rule.

Banish the hope forthwith: the free-flowing abandon of Bunty Aur Babli is nowhere in sight in its sequel. Bunty Aur Babli is a laboured, overly frothy attempt to build upon the notion that the 2005 film stood on: two young people too ambitious for the small towns they belong to turn into robber-rebels who use their innate wiles to trick the greedy into parting with their wealth.

One Word Review... #BuntyAurBabli2: DISAPPOINTING. Interesting ideas don't necessarily translate into interesting films... An absolute waste of such fine talent and opportunity! #BuntyAurBabli2Review