Badshaah Company Review

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Meiyang Chang, Vir Das, Anupam Kher.
Direction: Parmeet Sethi
Music: Pritam Chakraborty
Production: Yash Raj Films
Yash Raj, after a series of flops, a Rab Ne., a New York and the supremely lovable - yet a box office disaster ‘Rocket Singh’, has once again invested quite heavily on actor Parmeet Sethi’s first directorial - Badmaash company. Coming-of-age movies are quite the trend in Hindi cinema, and who best to portray the brilliant young kid with a vision than the person who has specialized in such movies - Shahid Kapoor.

The movie is about Karan (Shahid) and his friends, who ride on an idea to do the wrong, and start enjoying its dividends only later to realize - that dishonesty pays but doesn't guarantee eternal happiness and joyous life. When Karan finally understands it, he is all alone in the jail. Can Karan bounce back and get his life back on track? Well what’s the fun in reading the visual content?

Badmaash Company is a mixed bag, it starts off promisingly only to fall in the cliché trap with predictable proceedings but leads to a decent finale. The pace does shift regularly but somehow at the end of it all you do come out satisfied. Parmeet Sethi does impress with his directorial debut and shows immense promise, no wonder Yash Raj has signed him for two more movies. In the scene when Karan moves out of his house or the intimate scenes of the lead pair - the director had shown immense maturity and understanding of the medium. At the same time, the movie does suffer from being too predictable. And the climax sequences looks unrealistic.

Shahid Kapoor is not at his sizzling best but still is likable, the best thing about him is his confidence level and he is never short of that. Anushka sheds her inhibitions to flaunt her assets and sizzles on screen with her well-toned body and her scintillating performance. There are a few sequences when she does overact but can be pardoned as she makes up for it. Vir Das, the stand-up comedian is brilliant as Chandu. He sure is going places. Meiyang Chang is decent as Zing. Anupam Kher is dependable as always and so is Kiran Juneja.

Cinematography by Sanjay Packium is good, so is the editor Ritesh Soni but the movie does not boast of a good musical score and though one or two songs are good, it somehow doesn't suit the movie. Overall - the movie has a good technical crew who could have done a better job.

Badmaash Company could have achieved greatness but does have to be content with a good film tag. A tag that can carry the film forward at least until the ‘Kites’ fly in.

Verdict: A coming of age feel good entertainer.