When it comes to fiction stories, everyone loves to read detective based stories. The readers enhance their reading level from 'The Famous Fice' / 'Nance Drew' / 'Hardy Boy's level to 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' and many more. The beauty of these series lies in the detailing of its main protagonist and the type of mystery element attached to it. In our country too, we had our shares of detective series in the form of 'Feluda', 'Byomkesh Bakshi' and few more. While in the west, most of their detective series were enhanced in the form of television series followed by movies based series as well. Here, in our films very few films were to be seen in this genre. Surprisingly, this genre did catch up in a big way on our television with some great serials like 'Byomkesh Bakshi', 'Tehkikaat', 'Suraag', 'Raja Aur Ranco', 'Detective Vijay' and few more along with the most appealed 'Karamchand'. This year, our Hindi film industry geared up their socks and started many films based on the detective genre, which incepted with 'Samrat & Co.' and the next one in line is Vidya Balan starrer film 'Bobby Jassos'. So let's find out, whether 'Bobby Jassos' might manage to establish the much wanted detective genre in our Hindi cinema or might end up on the lines of 'Samrat & Co', which ended up as an open and shut case.
Story: 'Bobby Jassos' is a story of Bobby (Vidya Balan), who desperately wants to become a detective and thus keeps solving small cases in her vicinity. Bobby wants to do something big but, is not supported by anyone, including her family members. One day, she gets a strange client Aziz Khan (Kiran Kumar), who offers her an interesting case along with a decent professional fee. Then begins a series of cases between Bobby and Aziz Khan. But, beneath these cases lies something more and that's what the entire film is all about.
Screenplay & Technicalities: The story is quite simple and not as complicated or intellectual like 'The Sherlock Holmes' series. The screenplay writers manage to keep you engrossed in the film, especially in the first half of the film. The character building of Vidya Balan is superb due to which you are thrilled as well as curious to know about her in the film. The second half though, has its share of glitches and hurdles in the form of the romantic track and the side track involving Arjan Bajwa. There are some entertaining scenes like Vidya taking disguises and trying to solve the case, Vidya and her team taking the auditions, Vidya's bonding with her mother, tiff with her father, Vidya helping Ali to talk with his dad, Vidya and family on Biriyani hunt and a few more. On the flip side, as mentioned earlier the detective track is a bit low in its content level followed by weak romantic track and other side tracks. Also, the climax of the film is a big let down in terms of the expectations built up. There should have been some twist and turns in the finale portions rather than focusing on unwanted emotional track. The camera work is good and the basic soul of central Hyderabad is well captured and used in the film.
Music & Direction: Music by Shantanu Moitra is not up to the mark. 'Tu' is the best track in the film, which is visually spoiled by the Shah Rukh Khan type of act by Ali Fazal. 'Jashn' and 'Sweety' are enjoyable. Director Samar Sheikh tries to keep 'Bobby Jassos' simple and engaging. Samar does full justice to his main lead character of 'Bobby Jassos' and narrates it in an interesting and enjoyable manner. He succeeds mostly in the film except for the final part where he looses his grip and control over the film. Being a very simple plot line, the climax fails to match its level and should have been more engrossing.
Performances: Vidya Balan looks cute and very sweet. She essays her part with total conviction and does full justice to it. It's only due to her entertaining performance you are glued to this film. You can see her passion of a detective in her eyes and body language. It would be interesting to see a comic based character being made over this character of hers. Ali Fazal looks good, but fails miserably over his screen chemistry with Vidya Balan. Supriya Pathak, Kiran Kumar, Tanvi Azmi, Aakash Dahiya, Prasad Barve, Anupriya Goenka and Rajendra Gupta lend good support. Benaf Dadachandji and Zarina Wahab were wasted. Arjan Bajwa could have been much better.
Final Verdict: So bol meri 'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dumb? Dumb? Well, there is a good amount of dumb for all those who love sweet and simple films with good performances attached to it. The movie might appeal to all those who are looking out to see a full fledge intellectual detective film. Also, the weak climax will end up leaving a bad taste. Barring these few negative points, the movie ends up being a decent entertainer. Vidya Balan's 'Bobby Jassos' might not end up being on the line of 'The Sherlock Holmes' or our own 'Feluda' but will come close to becoming a lady 'Karamchand', which was sweet, funny and entertaining. Rating: 3/5
Story: 'Bobby Jassos' is a story of Bobby (Vidya Balan), who desperately wants to become a detective and thus keeps solving small cases in her vicinity. Bobby wants to do something big but, is not supported by anyone, including her family members. One day, she gets a strange client Aziz Khan (Kiran Kumar), who offers her an interesting case along with a decent professional fee. Then begins a series of cases between Bobby and Aziz Khan. But, beneath these cases lies something more and that's what the entire film is all about.
Screenplay & Technicalities: The story is quite simple and not as complicated or intellectual like 'The Sherlock Holmes' series. The screenplay writers manage to keep you engrossed in the film, especially in the first half of the film. The character building of Vidya Balan is superb due to which you are thrilled as well as curious to know about her in the film. The second half though, has its share of glitches and hurdles in the form of the romantic track and the side track involving Arjan Bajwa. There are some entertaining scenes like Vidya taking disguises and trying to solve the case, Vidya and her team taking the auditions, Vidya's bonding with her mother, tiff with her father, Vidya helping Ali to talk with his dad, Vidya and family on Biriyani hunt and a few more. On the flip side, as mentioned earlier the detective track is a bit low in its content level followed by weak romantic track and other side tracks. Also, the climax of the film is a big let down in terms of the expectations built up. There should have been some twist and turns in the finale portions rather than focusing on unwanted emotional track. The camera work is good and the basic soul of central Hyderabad is well captured and used in the film.
Music & Direction: Music by Shantanu Moitra is not up to the mark. 'Tu' is the best track in the film, which is visually spoiled by the Shah Rukh Khan type of act by Ali Fazal. 'Jashn' and 'Sweety' are enjoyable. Director Samar Sheikh tries to keep 'Bobby Jassos' simple and engaging. Samar does full justice to his main lead character of 'Bobby Jassos' and narrates it in an interesting and enjoyable manner. He succeeds mostly in the film except for the final part where he looses his grip and control over the film. Being a very simple plot line, the climax fails to match its level and should have been more engrossing.
Performances: Vidya Balan looks cute and very sweet. She essays her part with total conviction and does full justice to it. It's only due to her entertaining performance you are glued to this film. You can see her passion of a detective in her eyes and body language. It would be interesting to see a comic based character being made over this character of hers. Ali Fazal looks good, but fails miserably over his screen chemistry with Vidya Balan. Supriya Pathak, Kiran Kumar, Tanvi Azmi, Aakash Dahiya, Prasad Barve, Anupriya Goenka and Rajendra Gupta lend good support. Benaf Dadachandji and Zarina Wahab were wasted. Arjan Bajwa could have been much better.
Final Verdict: So bol meri 'Filmi Khopdi' iss film mein kitna hain Dumb? Dumb? Well, there is a good amount of dumb for all those who love sweet and simple films with good performances attached to it. The movie might appeal to all those who are looking out to see a full fledge intellectual detective film. Also, the weak climax will end up leaving a bad taste. Barring these few negative points, the movie ends up being a decent entertainer. Vidya Balan's 'Bobby Jassos' might not end up being on the line of 'The Sherlock Holmes' or our own 'Feluda' but will come close to becoming a lady 'Karamchand', which was sweet, funny and entertaining. Rating: 3/5