Bombay To Bangkok
Neither sufficiently ribald nor delicately lovey-dovey. It’s a mere bad joke of a film.
Bombay To Bangkok
Bombay To Bangkok
Starring:
Directed by
Rating:
Late last year, Pradeep Sarkar tried to go regressive with a Sooraj Barjatya-inspired Laaga Chunari Mein Daag and ended up with an egg on his face. Now we have Kukunoor trying to be Indra Kumar, Anees Bazmee, David Dhawan and Yash Chopra—all rolled into one—and failing pathetically. Perhaps, he has been trying too hard to be what he’s not; perhaps he doesn’t have the requisite sense of humour, nor a romantic bone because B2B is neither sufficiently ribald nor delicately lovey-dovey. It’s a mere bad joke of a film.
That Kukunoor is an outsider to the Bollywood ethos is visible in the way he references Hindi films (songs like Ek haseena thi, Bhor aayi gaya andhiyara, Jaani o jaani), all for the heck of it than for making a point as was done in Om Shanti Om. Then why make a typically Bollywood film?
The film, about a Bombay cook posing as a doctor and running away with a don’s loot to Thailand, is way too amateurish, be it the silly script, tacky cinematography or eminently forgettable music. It doesn’t know what it is—a road movie, a rom com, a sex flick or a detective movie. A mixing of genre is fine, but in this film, it’s not very well shaken and stirred. Not a single situation comes alive. The lines are badly written, with terrible Viagra and fart jokes. The romance between the cook and the Thai sex worker never sets our hearts pounding. Why the hell does our hero fall for the lady? Merely because her hair is blowing in the wind, Bollywood style? You are not willing to suspend your disbelief at any point. As for the characters, well, cliches abound. There was potential in rapper Don Jam K (Maurya) and his couch romance with the psychologist, but it ends up being more irritating than ticklish. The only character I warmed up to was the Sardar interpreter Rash (Singh). The films of Kukunoor that have worked for me include Iqbal and, to a lesser extent, Hyderabad Blues. Most of them, even the much-celebrated Dor, fail in making any emotional connect in their garb of minimalism. This one specially needed to be robust and lively than limp and lame. Go for it if you like dialogue like "her backside is as tight as a trampoline".
High Fives
Bollywood
1. Taare Zameen Par
2. Welcome
3. Halla Bol
4. Bombay to Bangkok
5. Om Shanti Om
Hollywood
1. Cloverfield
2. 27 Dresses
3. The Bucket List
4. Juno
5. First Sunday
Ringtones
1. Crank That (Soulja Boy Tell’em)
2. Pink Panther (Henry Macini)
3. Adios Amor Te Vas (Grupo Montez)
4. Super Mario Brothers Theme (Kondo)
5. I’m so Hood (DJ Khaled, T-Pain etc.
Courtesy: Film Information
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