Baa Baaa Black Sheep movie review: Comedy served really, really stale

Directed By: Vishwas Pandya
Produced By: Anand Swarup Agarwal, Krishna Datla, Agastya Films

Cast: Maniesh Paul, Anupam Kher, Manjari Phadnis, Annu Kapoor, Kay Kay Menon
Duration: 1 hour 43 minutes
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 1/5

When I heard the film’s name was ‘Baa Baaa Black Sheep’ and also that he was playing a contract killer, I almost imagined Maniesh Paul popping up on the screen in a baffling disguise, removing his black hat and smirking, ‘Bond, James Bond. Naam Toh Suna Hi Hoga‘.

Alas! Didn’t happen. Maniesh did take cues from SRK though! The iconic ‘DDLJ’ tune was twisted a bit, instead of Sarson Ka Khet, it was a Goa beach and Balbir was trying to woo Angelina.

It so happens, that Maniesh Paul urf Balbir and Manjari Fadnis urf Angelina are love-struck by each other, but cupid isn’t playing straight. Angelina’s father Brian Morias (Annu Kapoor) is an art teacher who actually fools people in the name of selling antique paintings. On the other hand, on his 25th birthday, Balbir learns that his innocent, sinless, Kaju seller father Charu Dutt Sharma (Anupam Kher) is a contract killer and that he has to join the trade now!

By the time the first twist took place, the flat narrative, the unimpressive screenplay and a cliched candyfloss-ish romantic frame already acted as turn offs. The first half is a drag, and sans Anupam Kher’s admirable shift between two strikingly different characters, there’s nothing to really hook up to.

It’s second half, and Balbir has received his would-be father-in-laws’s Supari. At the same time, a number of sub-plots are running, along with Kay Kay Menon playing a fierce cop and trying to break into a drug smuggling gang. You’ll ask me how did we land here from a romantic crisis. We didn’t. We were thrown amid.

Bollywood’s stint with comedy seems really saturated at times. This film is another example of all good ingredients going wrong when put together. It doesn’t serve as either a good comedy or as a good love story, although director Vishwas Pandya has tried to input plenty of humour, most of which falls flat on its belly.

Maniesh and Manjari create zero chemistry as an on-screen couple. At the same time, Annu Kapoor and Anupam Kher are failed by a very weakly knitted script. I almost wished the film was sans songs because they’re in another tangent of cliche.

Please catch this one at your own risk!