Bhaag Johnny Review {1.5/5} & Review Rating
As we all know by now that Bollywood is a domain of films that cater to different genres. The genre of thriller has always fascinated the audience. This week's release BHAAG JOHNNY, which happens to be a thriller, is about two identities of one man. Will this film 'run' at the box-office or will it get stumped… let's analyze.
The film starts off with an extremely worried and concerned Savitri (Nishigandha Wad) meeting up a spiritual guru Acharyaji (Arun Bali) in order to know about the safety and whereabouts of her son who is settled in Bangkok. This is immediately followed by a 'musical introduction' of her son Janardhan Arora aka Johnny (Kunal Khemu). Just when things are getting settled down, Johnny's boss Ramona Bakshi (Mansi Scott) summons him to her cabin and accuses him of 'insider trading' in the company. She also gives him a couple of choices as a punishment. The first option is to serve 10 years of Rigorous Imprisonment in jail and the second option is to spend 3 days in Pattaya. After much reluctance and a failed escape plan to India, Johnny chooses the Pattaya option. The moment he reaches Pattaya, he is loaded with a set of instructions from Ramona Bakshi's man aka 'Mr. Nobody' (Aseem Merchant), who instructs Johnny to kill Tanya (Zoa Morani). Left with absolutely no option, the very moment Johnny makes up his mind to kill Tanya, there appears a 'jin' (Vikram Bhatt), at the behest of Acharyaji. The 'jin' offers to help Johnny in a very unnatural way. He gives Johnny two lives to live. While in the 'first life' Johnny can kill Tanya and see the consequences for himself, in the 'second life', Johnny can save Tanya see the consequences. Game for this, Johnny starts living both the lives and faces the consequences in both. The story takes a sudden U- turn when the two Johnnys meet each other face to face. What happens when Johnny's 'two lives' meet each other, what happens to Tanya and Johnny, what is the hidden motive of Ramona Bakshi to get Tanya killed… is what forms the rest of the film.
Director Shivamm Nair, who has to his credit a history of making not-so- memorable films like AHISTA AHISTA, MAHARATHI, GHOST GHOST NA RAHA, falters terribly with BHAAG JOHNNY, right from the word go. He has erred with the most essential element of filmmaking viz., direction. One really wonders as to what he was thinking when he was making the film. While the film does have its moments under the sun (strictly a handful of them), the rest of the film lands up doing nothing to the viewers, except confusing them to the core. The film is far, far away from having an engaging or a gripping storyline that is required to hold the interest of the viewers.
As for the performances, it is Kunal Khemu who leads the way in the film. The irony of the film is that despite Kunal Khemu not having a double role, he portrays two roles in the film. One cannot take away the fact that he has put in a sincere and an honest performance in the film. There is hardly anything that even he could have done in the film which had a senseless plot. As for the heroines, despite Mandana Karimi 'playing' the second lead (or is it parallel lead?), the film sees her in an extended cameo. Whereas the full film is being dominated by the likes of Manasi Scott and Zoa Morani. While Manasi Scott delivers what was expected of her role, Zoa Morani gets stuck with a solo expression in the film throughout. She definitely has miles to go as far as acting is concerned. The most shocking element was the cameo appearance of Vikram Bhatt, whose character of 'jin' is so gimmicky that it lands up invoking laughter rather than any kind of mystic feelings. Mukul Dev in the role of a pony tailed ACP is totally wasted. The rest of the actors do no good to the lacklustre film.
While the film's music (Devi Sri Prasad, Mithoon, Ankit Tiwari, Yo Yo Honey Singh) is decent, but the two tracks that stand out are 'Daddy Mummy' and 'Iss Qadar Pyar Hai'. These two songs are possibly the only relief in this tiring movie. The film's cinematography and editing is average. It is however the action sequences that shot very well.
On the whole, BHAAG JOHNNY offers no entertainment value.
