Review: Benny and Babloo

Originally for NOWRUNNING.com

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Rajpal Yadav, Rukhsar, Anita Hasnandani (Natassha), Riya Sen, Shweta Tiwari, Hitan Paintal, Kiran Janjani, Richa Chadda,

Director: Yunus Sajawal

Producer: Umesh Chouhan

Rating: **

Benny and Babloo

There are actors who get their due and there are non-actors who get more than what they are due. And there are also actors who keep struggling to get their due. We have quite a list of such actors in Bollywood. And Kay Kay Menon easily fits into this list. The actor who has given memorable performances in films like Shaurya, Gulaal and even Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd rarely gets a film which gives him scope. And yet he continues to do mediocre films, providing them a silver lining.

Benny and Babloo happens to be one more mediocrity laden film. The difference this time is that it is not Kay Kay Menon alone but also another deserving actor Rajpal Yadav who come together to create the silver lining effect. There are also a host of others who provide good support, making the overall acting department score.

But that’s where the major problem with this film lies. The director overlooks his story and starts developing the characters individually wasting precious time where he is supposed to take the story forward. As a result though all actors have a have backing to perform well the story suffers. Also the director goes on an overdrive to prove that dance bars are actually better than five star hotels – which are shown to be places where rich fulfill their not so ‘to-be proud of’ activities.

The film takes the audience into lives of people related to a dance bar and also a five star hotel. Benny (Kay Kay) is a bell boy at a five star hotel and he looks down upon his friend Babloo’s (Rajpal) job, which is that of a waiter at the dance bar. However soon he realizes that what he abhorred about dance bars in actually happening far more actively in his own hotel. Somehow it looks like a mix of Madhur Bhandarkar’s Page 3 and Chandni Bar.

While the concept is very much to prove how dance bars were actually good and girls were ‘earning money by displaying their art there’ the director fails to create any sympathy for the bar girls. A good thing to do would have been to keep half the number of characters.

Overall, all that Benny and Babloo manages is to become a good example of times when there is a good story concept but it is not written and executed well.