Film: Heropanti 2

Cast: Tiger Shroff, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tara Sutaria, Amrita Singh

Director: Ahmed Khan

Rating: Well, read on. You'll understand better!

"Chhote bachche hai kya," is the thing I really wish to ask the makers of Heropanti 2. Well, it certainly appears that they treat their chhote and bade audience as an immature bunch of people who will easily buy the illogical, irrelevant stuff shown in the film. Packaged stylishly, Heropanti 2 is nothing but a loud mess. The story is simpler than any children's book. It is of course filled with cliches, tacky dialogues and loads of senseless heropanti by none other than Tiger Shroff, who has been asked to remove or rip his shirt, just to flaunt his chiselled, well-oiled and bronzed chest. 

So, director Ahmed Khan, at the beginning of Heropanti 2, wants us to believe that his hero, RJ or Babloo, is a naive, innocent, maa da ladla residing with his maa (Amrita Singh) in a foreign country. More than innocent, Tiger, oh sorry RJ, oh, it's Babloo, pretends to be more like a 'buffoon'. Then, we are introduced to Inaaya Saran, a stylish influencer, who judges people's success on the basis of their clothes. RJ, the innocent guy, gets employed as Inaaya's driver and she discloses that he is Babloo, who is the 'world's most wanted'. 

Then, from making puppy faces to expressing swag through his action movements, RJ returns as Babloo to seek revenge from Laila (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) for cheating people, especially all the ‘maas’ of the world. The maa, aka Amrita Singh, is a God-fearing person who does pilgrimages in India for her not-so-real son Babloo’s safety. But, she is not like your mother; she mouths cool abbreviations like MCBC for “Main Chali Bye Cutie”. I rest my case right here. Being a part of the Indian youth group, I have never heard the most voguish person use such terms. 

If this is not enough, Babloo is shot by a goon right in his butt to create a hilarious situation which sadly becomes cringe-worthy. Soon after getting the bullet removed by a female doctor, he bounces back immediately, because it’s song and dance time! Flaunting his chest for the infinite time, Babloo dances to Da Fa Kar in the middle of a road with firangi background dancers and Inaaya gets a dress change right in the middle of the song. What’s this randomness?

If this is not enough, the film has many more gems like these. Also, if you happen to choose to put yourself through this trauma, don’t forget to catch Tara’s and Tiger’s quick stylish dance during a high-octane silly action sequence that celebrates the actors’ agility. 

Let me not even get to Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Laila. My eyes bleed looking at the actor, known for delivering a master class in acting, suffer so much. In Laila, as the name of the character suggests, Nawazuddin gets a feminine character to play which is nothing but clearly an insult to a community. When he makes a peculiar sound ‘zzzzz’, it gets annoying to the extreme. In one scene, Tara joins him in making that sound. It is torture. 

Heropanti 2 is made to celebrate Tiger and waste money in the lavish production design. I will not get into explaining or praising the character graph as there is none. He is singing, performing physics-defying action scenes but not acting at all. Tara looks stunning in each and every outfit given to her. But not every glam girl in Bollywood is Poo. While Kareena Kapoor Khan’s character in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham was neither intelligent, Tara’s Inaaya is beyond dumb. Overacting can be an understatement. When female actors are getting meatier, tougher roles, Tara is still sticking to basic stuff. It is disappointing. Very disappointing. 

There is no chemistry between Tiger and Tara who look absolutely misfits. There is no direction as Ahmed, to me, looks confused himself. In the first place, I wonder why was Heropanti 2 made? Was it really needed? Was it this important to recreate a Harry Potter scene with such disgrace? The answer to all is no. 

Sorry, A R Rahman, Heropanti 2 has failed to honour with music. Be it the loud Da Fa Kar or Jalwanuma, all the songs are forgettable. Why was Whistle Baja even remade again? Shoddy work. The makers of Heropanti 2 also want to show how secular they are. The mother-son scenes, though intended to be emotional, are unintentionally hilarious. 

It is safe to say the makers of Heropanti 2 ko creativity aati nahi, plagiarism aur randomness jaati nahi...Watch it at your own risk. Even after this, if you want to know the rating, then it’s Zeropanti!