Bholaa: 2023 Bollywood Action Thriller

4to40.com April 2, 2023 Movie Reviews 1,122 Views

Movie Name: Bholaa
Directed by: Ajay Devgn
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Sanjay Mishra, Deepak Dobriyal, Gajraj Rao, Vineet Kumar, Makarand Deshpande, Yuri Suri, Kiran Kumar, Raai Laxmi, Amala Paul, Abhishek Bachchan (Cameo Appearance)
Genre: Action, Thriller, Crime, Adventure
Release Date: 30 March, 2023
Running Time: 143 Minutes
Language: Hindi
Rating:

Bhola, a prisoner, is finally going home after 10 years of imprisonment to meet his young daughter. His journey gets difficult when he is arrested mid-way. At first, he is not aware of the grave situation he has got himself into but after a crazy incident takes place, he must travel a pathway full of crazy obstacles with death lurking around every corner. Will he get to meet his daughter?

Bholaa: 2023 Bollywood Action Thriller

Bholaa is an upcoming Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Ajay Devgn and produced by Ajay Devgn FFilms, Reliance Entertainment, T-Series Films and Dream Warrior Pictures. It is a remake of the Tamil film Kaithi (2019). The film stars Devgn, Tabu, Deepak Dobriyal, Sanjay Mishra and Gajraj Rao in pivotal roles. Amala Paul and Abhishek Bachchan make special appearances.

Bholaa is scheduled to be theatrically released on 30 March 2023 in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D

Principal photography took place from January 2022 to January 2023 in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Varanasi. The film score and soundtrack album are composed by Ravi Basrur. It is scheduled to be released theatrically on 30 March 2023.

Story:

Inspector Diana Joseph and her team confiscate a massive amount of cocaine and arrest some of the members of the syndicate, including the head of the syndicate, Nithari, whose identity they do not know of. This enrages Nithari’s brother, Ashwathama ‘Ashu’, who declares a bounty against the 5 cops and to retrieve the consignment. He also poisons the food and drinks of the cops at the retirement party of Diana’s superior, thanks to information provided by the corrupt NCB cop, Devraj Subramaniam. Diana, who avoided the food and drinks, as she was under medication, convinces Bholaa, a recently released prisoner, to drive the cops to the nearest hospital, 80 kilometers away, in exchange of meeting his daughter, Jyothi. Bholaa reluctantly agrees and a race against time begins to save the cops, whilst evading Ashu and the gangsters.

Principal photography for the film commenced on 13 January 2022. Filming took place in Hyderabad, Madh Island, Kharghar, Mumbai and Varanasi. Tabu’s character is a gender-swapped version of Narain’s character from Kaithi. The entire filming for Bholaa was wrapped up on 6 January 2023.

The music of the film is composed by Ravi Basrur while lyrics are written by Irshad Kamil. The first single titled “Nazar Lag Jayegi” was released on 20 February 2023.

Bholaa Movie Trailer:

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Movie Review:

Remake in times of OTT, one would presume, ought to be passé, dead and buried in the past. But Ajay Devgn basking in the success of Drishyam 2, also a remake of Malayalam film of the same name, perhaps is not wrong in assuming that remakes can work. So, here he is in and as Bholaa, Hindi remake of Tamil hit Kaithi directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, also credited with story in Bholaa.

High on action, low on cerebral quotient, a dash of humour and bit of emotion, Ajay Devgn is literally the one-man-army here. Not only because in the titular part of Bholaa he takes on goons by hundreds. He happens to be both the director and producer too.

If action alone is entertainment for you, actor director Ajay Devgn’s action juggernaut

To be fair, the actioner begins well, editing by Dharmendra Sharma is sharp and takes us from one eventful moment to another, even as the story is mostly set in one night. Devgn as Bholaa walks out of the jail after 10 years of imprisonment. A lovely girl child is waiting for someone in an orphanage. Tabu, who has in the recent past become the perennial cop, is SP Diana. She busts a drug racket and decides to store heroin worth Rs 1,000 crore in what she thinks is a secure prison made during the British era within her police station. There are moles on both sides of the law and there has to be an all-out war between those on the right and the wrong side. Bholaa is inadvertently caught in between. Comic actors are devious villains. Both Deepak Dobriyal and Gajraj Rao, fine actors, who have so far regaled us in comic parts turn into all shades of black. Rao impresses us to start with but since his villainy is confined to making calls here and there and playing Google maps to Diana’s enemies, it dissolves without making a lasting impact. Same can be said of Dobriyal’s Ashwathama act. Left to decimating his own men in violent fits of rage, he too is reduced to nothingness.

Expectedly, in an Ajay Devgn production one who stands tall above all else is Devgn himself. Larger than life in well executed action stunts, as an actor too he is unflappable and in charge and in control. Before we see him flex his muscles, an impactful Makarand Deshpande (a prisoner in the same jail) sings paeans in praise of Bholaa’s superhuman strengths and fearsome exploits. Drawn into a battle not of his making, once Bholaa comes into action, there is nothing but action, action and more action. Unspooling at relentless speed, we agree action here is brilliant, well choreographed and has that desi touch and atmospherics thanks to director of photography Aseem Bajaj, set somewhere in lawless UP. Besides, as long as the camera stays with Devgn, action sequences right till the end replete with his jaw-dropping trishul wielding act keep you engaged.

But simultaneous action at the police station where goons led by Dobriyal as Ashwathama barge in and yet can’t get through despite numbers and weapons not only calls for mere suspension of disbelief but much else including suspension of entertainment. Of course, if action alone is entertainment for you, Bholaa’s action juggernaut ought to suffice. While the film employs more than one trick in the bag, including a back-story wrapped up in a song, father-daughter angle, twist in the teasing climax with promise of a sequel and a surprise in store, it succeeds primarily in one department… action. Clearly, the film frames its own dictum; for every emotion there is action.