Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Movie Review: Patriotic themed actioners in Bollywood are being churned out in galore like factory-produced goods. It seems like every time our filmmakers are in doubt, they resort to this tried and tested formula. It’s easy and comfortable, after all. There’s one common enemy, a brave-hearted desh bhakt soldier or two, lots of action-packed sequences with intense bloodshed, a deadly mission and women characters who aren’t allowed to add much substance to the mission and/or the narrative. So, why take risks when the template is already laid out? Especially since, with a little tweaking and a bit of permutation and combination, one can have the same old wine in a new bottle.
Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan is exactly that. It’s run-of-the-mill with some predictable twists. However, credit should be given where it’s due and the makers deserve applause for presenting some top-notch, slick, gravity-defying, jaw-dropping and never-seen-before action sequences. But the brownie point largely goes to renowned Hollywood action director, Craig Macrae, who has choreographed stunts in some of the biggest productions including Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Mad Max: Fury Road. Last year, we saw him blazing the trail with Pathaan and Jawan that made Shah Rukh Khan the next action star. And this time, Craig earns bigger credit for his attempt at saving Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, single-handedly.
Before we go any further, here’s reiterating that Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan has no link with the Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda starrer of 1998. In a couple of sequences, however, you’ll see the comic caper playing in the background and there’s also a justification as to why this new film is a namesake. The only time you’ll feel nostalgic is when the title track of the old film becomes a score as Akshay and Tiger fight it out against a terrorist outfit in Afghanistan, which brings us to praise Ali for scouting some real, picturesque locations that serve as perfect backdrops to the action scenes.
The new Bade Miyan Chote Miyan revolves around two soldiers, Captain Freddy, known as Bade, and Captain Rocky, nicknamed Chote. They’re known to be the bravest officers of the Indian forces who have never batted an eyelid before taking down their enemies. They, particularly Chote, is also known to have a sense of humour and he puts it on display especially during stressful situations. An event leads them to be court-martialed and suspended. And now, eight years later, they’re brought back to action by Major Azad to capture the most dreadful enemy whose power, if not curbed, can destroy India.
But the film is largely the story of Kabir, whose father’s company based in the UK, used to provide weapons to the Indian armed forces. One day, Kabir comes up with a new program called Soldier X to make clones of soldiers as fully controlled robots and that’s when things start going downhill. And at present, Bade and Chote are tasked with crushing him and protecting Karan Kawach, India’s invisible shield against Pakistani and Chinese invaders and missiles.
Thrown into this mission is Captain Misha, an able officer known for packing some solid punches, and Dr Parminder aka Pam, a researcher at Oxford University and undercover asset, who is adept at cyber security and cracking codes. And then, there’s Priya, another efficient soldier, in charge of Karan Kawach.
To be honest, it would be wrong to call Bade Miyan Chote Miyan just an action entertainer. It also has elements of science-fiction and while it’s a great attempt to match shoulders with the West, it ends up being a loud and ludicrous mishmash. The film’s weakest link happens to be its writing which is lazy and marked with threadbare clichés. It’s so paper thin that after a point of time, you’ll stop questioning it because the long-drawn action sequences will try to fill every void and loophole in the screenplay. What adds to the agony is its 2 hour 43 minutes runtime. A crisper editing would have lessened the damage.
Coming to the action, while it’s definitely done diligently and earnestly with a lot of novelty, it makes up for nearly the entire course of the film. The makers took the genre way too seriously and there are far too many elaborate stunt sequences that end up testing your patience. Cars blowing up, choppers crashing and constant fires become too repetitive. However, the screenplay stays true to its crux and the lack of unnecessary sub-plots like a romance slant between the protagonists save the film from digressing. And truth be told, it’s a refreshing change.
Women in Ali’s films have predominantly been given a lot of prominence. Who can forget Katrina Kaif pulling some stupendous stunts and providing a stiff competition to Salman Khan in Tiger Zinda Hai? It was a glass-shattering and trendsetting moment for mainstream Bollywood and it cemented Katrina as a true-blue new-age action star. In Sultan, Anushka Sharma’s relationship with Salman was the fulcrum and she was a go-getter. But Bade Miyan Chote Miyan disappoints on that front.
Yes, there’s Captain Misha and Pam who are an integral part of Bade and Chote’s mission to save India. The former also gets to display impressive physical prowess on screen but the writing doesn’t do either of the characters any justice. It’s a classic case of tokenism. They don’t end up adding any value to the plot. It’s time that women are given the chance to headline actioners much like their male counterparts. It’s sad to see them being relegated to the peripheries. And that’s why Ali’s Super Soldier with Katrina, where she is supposed to play a female superhero, is ardently awaited.
Akshay and Tiger take on the roles of Captain Freddy and Captain Rocky, respectively. Their fun banters where they try to one-up each other provide a much needed respite amid all the combat scenes. Tiger gets almost all the funny one-liners and repartees (‘yeh aadmi hai ya dandruff, jaata hi nahi’, for instance) and he plays a role that’s tailor-made for him. Chote is suave, swashbuckling and a smooth charmer who revels in his comfort zone as he kicks and walks on air every now and then. Akshay is equally heroic and some of their scenes together are pure gold.
Prithviraj Sukumaran plays Kabir, an epitome of pralay. He dishes out some ultra-cool vibes in a black mask and keeps you on the edge in the first half. In Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, he plays to the gallery and pitches his performance several notches higher than what we usually see him do. His histrionics don’t always work and his deep, dubbed voice doesn’t quite add to his sinister motives. However, his Kabir walks the thin line between being an ambitious dreamer and a revengeful psychopath and he does a great job at that. Prithviraj seems to be reveling in his villain era and many a times, this anti-hero ends up stealing the thunder from the protagonists.
Ronit B Roy as Major Azad gets a meaty role where he impresses. However, these men appear like meta-humans who come out unscathed from all kinds of violence and catastrophe.
Manushi Chhillar gets to try her hands at action but doesn’t get enough opportunities to put her acting chops on display. Her Captain Misha starts off as a promising, fearless and unyielding woman but the writing eventually leads her to fizzle out. Alaya F plays the ‘nerdy’ and high-on-dopamine Pam and holds her own among some seasoned actors and stars. Her effervescence and garrulousness may come off as extra but she deserves credit for making the character endearing. Pam, apart from being extremely bright, is also a smooth flirter and Alaya makes her faffs with Tiger’s Rocky extremely entertaining. Sonakshi Sinha, on the other hand, is seen in a guest appearance that doesn’t do her justice.
The makers have gone big on Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and spent a lot of money on the stunts, scale and locations and in blowing up BMWs. Unfortunately, the script gets lost somewhere amid all this flashiness. Akshay and Tiger have an easy camaraderie and that may manage to hold your attention together for a while. At the end, it just becomes another addition to the long list of actioners laced with patriotic fervour. A genre like this has become extremely repetitive and redundant and it’s time filmmakers start thinking outside the box. Times have changed, so has the audiences’ preferences and so needs to Bollywood. Occasionally, a little glass of champagne between bottles of red wine, white wine and rosé shouldn’t hurt anyone.
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