With the success of recent releases like John Wick: Chapter 4 and the Bollywood blockbuster Pathaan, the action genre seem to be having a field day. Ajay Devgn’s Bholaa too joins the momentum in a physics-defying action spectacle that lasts for almost 143 minutes. A Hindi remake of 2019 hit Tamil film Kaithi, Bholaa also has a bit of the good old looking-for-lost-child element thrown in.
The story begins with an honest police officer Diana (Tabu) intercepting a massive drug deal. Ashu aka Ashwatthama (Deepak Dobriyal) is an eccentric mafia don who plans to get back his Rs 1,000 crore stash from a British-era police station in Lalganj. As part of the plan, he gets a corrupt policeman to poison cops at a party — and Diana is seemingly spared by her good fortune. The plot unfolds with Bholaa (Ajay Devgn) getting released from jail and driving Diana to safety, braving multiple attacks along the journey, and finally reuniting with his daughter at an orphanage.
When the charm wears off
Bholaa focuses on Devgn unabashedly. While it succeeds in parts, the representation of the convict-father feels rehashed in some places. Moreover, the emotions in the film never land. The finer plot points, like the significance of Bholaa — another name for the Hindu god Shiva — devouring chicken, do not quite come through. Bholaa is a bit stretched too — perhaps cutting the runtime by 20 minutes would’ve sustained interest.
Bholaa’s action sequences look like the original Singham meets Hindi heartland. Bikes fly high and machine-gun shots ricochet throughout, though most of the action involves a truck chase on a UP highway and narrow forest detours. The action sequences are not very creative—they seem rehashed from RRR (2022) or Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) and Hindi films of the ’90s. The charm begins to wear off when Bholaa fights goons for the fourth time — there’s little adrenaline rush. The background score, with shrieks of ‘Bholaaaa’ is more a nuisance than a catalyst to the action.
As far as stunt choreography is concerned, Devgn’s grasp of it was evident even in his earlier films like Shivaay (2016) and Runway 34 (2022). Inspired by the former, he brings into Bholaa the element of a Shiv devotee.
The film definitely did not need to be in IMAX 3D. Most of the scenes are shot at night, and 3D effects are unable to keep up with that. The scenes are blurry at times and look amateurish in parts. The CGI-powered leopard is wholly unnecessary and adds nothing to the power show of Bholaa.
More of Tabu, please
Tabu as the honest, injured officer holds her own in an otherwise all-male film. The opening scene has her firing in a high-octane chase, and you wish there was more of her in that avatar. Gajraj Rao sheds his benign patriarch father avatar he is usually associated with to don a slimy, corrupt IPS officer’s role and aces it. Dobriyal shines as a violence-loving crook who rains hammers and knives on people with absolutely no qualms.
Mishra has a minuscule role, but he’s brilliant in the screen time he gets.
All the characters speak in varying UP accents — barring Devgn, whose only focus seems to be fighting off goons and send them flying across the scene. For those who love to watch that, Bholaa might be paisa vasool.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)