Baby, Review: Premature

A Wednesday director Neeraj Pandey’s film Baby was previewed for the press on Thursday. It is made under his Friday Films banner and reunites Akshay Kumar with Pandey, after Special 26. Baby is an espionage action-thriller, in a genre similar to his earlier two outings, but much bigger and more ambitious in span.

Ajay Singh Rajput is a leading officer in an elite counter-intelligence unit of 16 men, informally called ‘Baby’, because they have a time frame of just five years in which to achieve their missions. Their task is to operate below the radar, quietly protecting India from terrorist threats. The team is now reduced to four, the other 12 having been killed on duty. One of Ajay’s colleagues sells out to terrorists, in Turkey, and another colleague is captured and tortured to near death there. Ajay manages to locate the hideout, but it is too late to save his fellow operative. He, however, succeeds in eliminating the threat. In the process, he and his boss Feroze become aware of another, far larger threat, masterminded by a maniacal terrorist, based across India’s border. With the clock ticking, it's up to this brave covert unit to track the terrorists' international tentacles and prevent them from carrying out bomb blasts in a Delhi mall and even possible aerial strikes against India.

Baby has all the ingredients of a taut action-suspense thriller, and the shot-taking and editing, coupled with pulsating background music, seems to reassure you that you are in for a memorable cinematic experience. A few minutes into the film, these hopes start dissipating. There is very little in terms of novelty and most plot points are of the déjà vu type. One scene that plays to the gallery has exchanges between Ajay and a foreign agent, who gloats about his ability to resist torture, and then buckles down when the pressure is applied. Stumbling upon a prize catch in the Middle-East was a good ploy to build-in. Wonder what prompted Neeraj to almost let it drift into slapstick. A stock Minister’s PA, albeit delineated with some freshness, would have been interesting, had Pandey not used the situation as many as four (five?) times, thereby making it totally predictable. Every phone call received by Feroze on his mobile is while he is mobile, walking in almost the same location. All the meetings with the Minister, spread over days or weeks, happen as if they were shot on the same day, which might be the case, but then there are ways of doing it differently, so that they do not appear so similar to the viewer.

Feroze’s exchanges with the Minister about the counter-intelligence unit disowning operatives should they be caught carrying out covert operations in other countries come across as something alien to the Minister. Considering such procedure is standard and has probably been in place for over a 100 years, one is appalled at the Minister’s ignorance. A counter intelligence officer who has no time for his family and makes excuses to his wife to avoid revealing his secret, and life-threatening, missions…sounds ‘just a little bit’ stale, doesn’t it? Right in the beginning, there is a blood and gore scene of a limp Indian operative in a chair who is punched in the face a dozen times, till all you see is a pulp. The reason for this is not very convincing. Often lifted by tight camera-work and slick editing, Baby suffers from an overdose of ear-splitting and endlessly repetitive background music, that surfaces every two minutes.

Akshay Kumar as Ajay Singh Rajput puts in a power-house, sincere performance and Madhurima Tuli (Toss, Warning) is his cute, sensitive wife. Taapsee Pannu (Chashme Baddoor) gets to play the agent who first puts on a damsel-in-distress act, which, at no notice, needs to metamorphose into a karate/kung fu exponent. Rana Daggubati (hulky Telugu actor, seen in Hindi films like Maaro Dum and Department) is okay as Jai, Ajay’s team-mate. Anupam Kher as Om Prakash Shukla, aka Shuklaji, techie of the unit, is his usual competent self. The verbal sparring between him and Ajay, thankfully, does not deteriorate into slapstick. Kay Kay Menon as Bilal Khan has just one scene in which he gets to talk. For the rest, he is either escaping from police custody or holding a meeting behind glass windows. Type-cast for the umpteenth time, he is wasted. Danny Denzongpa as Feroze Ali Khan, Chief of Undercover Unit, is a pièce de resistance. Age has only honed and sharpened his talent. Sushant Singh is indulgent in an ambivalent role.

Baby must be one of the rare films where several Pakistani artistes get to play important roles, including a father-son pair. Rasheed Naz (66 year-old Pakistani actor seen in Shoaib Mansoor's internationally acclaimed anti-terrorism film Khuda Ke Liye) plays the terrorist chief. An expressive face and imposing diction make him a good choice. Mikaal Zufiqar (son of a Pakistani father and English mother, seen in Indian films like late Jag Mundhra’s Shoot on Sight and as the lead actor in Aron Govil’s U R My Jaan) is Ashfaq, described in jargon as India’s Deep Asset in the Middle East. Viewers might not get the meaning of the term Deep Asset, but an asset he is, in the cast. Jameel Khan, the man subjected to the polythene bag torture treatment, does well, except for the limitations of the script. Hasan Noman, son of Rasheed Naz, as the Arab police officer, is a job well done.

Songs have really no place in films like Baby, yet there are a couple of passable tracks tuned by M. M. Kreem and Meet Bros Anjjan. Sanjoy Chowdhury’s background music is suitable exciting, if only it was used with some discretion.

A good example of possibilities frittered away, Baby promised to be a slick prodigy. As it turned out, the delivery was premature.

Rating: **1/2

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yu_2nyOP5o