The mass masala movie exaggerations and compromises were definitely there in a movie like Theri, and the reason why it sort of worked for almost everyone was certain elements like the chemistry of the lead pair, the subtle swagger in Vijay’s performance in the police officer chapter and of course the overall heroics. When it comes to its official Hindi remake produced by Atlee and directed by Kalees, these key areas just don’t have the kind of aura the original had, and despite the makers scaling up a lot of things, Baby John feels more like a movie that tries hard to be something like Jawan rather than Theri.
So the story here is about this father-daughter duo, John Desilva and Khushi. They are living in Alappuzha, Kerala, and John is a successful baker. The happy life of these two took an unexpected turn when John had to be involved in a police case, which led to the exposing of his past. Who was John, and what had happened in his life before coming to Kerala is what we get to see in Baby John.
If you are someone who hasn’t seen even Theri, kindly don’t proceed, as the rest of the review will have a lot of comparisons with the original. So, Baby John is basically 90% Theri, and the remaining 10% is a very scaled-up presentation of all the elements we have seen in Theri. What the movie essentially misses out on is how Theri had a simple yet effective finale. The climax of Baby John happens in a port very similar to that opening sequence in Pushpa 2, and we have Varun Dhawan as Baby John doing all these over-the-top stuff, including killing people while riding a horse. In Theri, this whole episode is a minimalistic dialogue-driven chapter where we see the villain sitting in a chair untouched by the hero as his henchmen are getting trashed by the hero.
Some of you may say that if they had made an exact replica of Theri, you people would say there is no creativity. Well, it is possible if the aura is not there. I can confidently say that you will get an idea of how much Vijay has shaped the film Theri when you watch Baby John. The sequence after the death of the villain’s son is extremely loud in the Hindi version. In the original, you can see the villain identifying the smartness of the hero in that sequence. Another major disappointment was the lack of chemistry between Varun Dhawan and Keerthy Suresh. The flow with which Vijay and Samantha performed was not there in this one, and it just felt like they were saying the mugged-up lines.
Baby John is projected as this mass hero entry of Varun Dhawan, and to be honest, the rigidness he has in delivering lines or the Salman Khan-like stiffness he brings to the body language of the character just doesn’t help in being charismatic on screen. Kalees even made him do Vijay’s trademark bubble gum thing, and it looked like a muscular man using neoprene dumbbells. The only area where I felt he kind of did a surprisingly good job is the scene where he speaks Malayalam. It was not authentic, but felt better than what Vijay did. Keerthy Suresh, as Dr. Meera, is introduced as this Chennai Ponnu, and hence, her diction is not much of an issue, and she delivered her lines neatly. As I already said, the chemistry between the pair is not that great, so feeling bad for the hero when the tragedy hits him is kind of difficult. Thaman’s album, which has peppy and soft tracks definitely gels in with the movie, but there wasn’t anything distinctive about those songs.
Amy Jackson’s character in Theri had hardly anything to do. Maybe because of the filmography of Wamiqa Gabbi, Kalees and Atlee have reimagined that character and made her a part of the action. Still, that character is pretty much in the gallery. Kalees changes the white and white politician villain of the original with a barbaric gangster. And Jacky Shroff performs that character in his typical style. Zara Zyanna, as Khushi, was fine in her character. Rajpal Yadav gets to do some mass-action stuff. Sheeba Chaddha is there as the hero’s mother.
The film ends with a guest appearance from Salman Khan as Bhai Jaan, and unlike the green screen garbage we saw in Singham Again, this one was actually shot really well. But with the fourth wall breaking Christmas and New Year wishes happening, the purpose of that scene got exposed as a mere marketing gimmick to bring in more audiences who might think that Salman has a major role in the film.
Despite the makers scaling up a lot of things, Baby John feels more like a movie that tries hard to be something like Jawan rather than Theri.
Green: Recommended Content
Orange: The In-Between Ones
Red: Not Recommended
