Today, after 16 years when I think about the original Bunty Aur Babli (2005), I am fondly reminded of -
a. The natural fun filled chemistry of the leading couple aka Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee.
B. Insanely colorful but interesting dressing of Babli aka Rani Mukherjee.
C. Bullish presence of Amitabh Bachchan.
D. Iconic song 'Kajrare kajrare' performed by Aishwarya Rai and overall good and peppy numbers.
However, in the sequel Bunty Aur Babli 2 (2021) -
a. The chemistry between the lead pair Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukherjee is quite bland.
What happened to Karan and Rhea of Hum Aur Tum (2004)?
B. Except for some post interval scenes in Abu Dhabi, Babli aka Rani Mukherjee's dressing and makeup is quite garish.
Even her mode of acting is unnecessary loud with nuances of over-acting.
Why did a seasoned actress like Rani resort to such insecure performance?
C. Well, Pankaj Tripathi has performed his usual self and kept his scenes relatively entertaining.
But can Big B's aura be replaced? Absolutely not.
D. Forget any iconic number, the entire music of the movie is quite forgetful.
An interesting observation:
Saif Ali Khan is supposed to look like a desi and rustic small towner in major parts of the film, but ends up looking royal. Also, a tad bit jaded.
While Siddhant Chaturvedi is supposed to look like a city bred educated and suave gentleman, but still looks more of a desi and rustic lad!
Why happened to the Langda Tyagi level of performance, enacted by Saif in Omkara (2006)?
How long will Siddhant take to come out of the mould of a 'desi gully boy'?
In the sequel, only Rani and Pankaj manage to carve clear characters and hold on to them throughout the movie. Saif just delivers his lines with no impact or single characterization.
The leading pair look quite dapper in their expansive designer wears, in the foreign location scenes that appear shortly after the interval.
They also have a plump faced young male child in the film who manages to score few laughter now and then.
Gully Boy (2019) fame Siddhant carries well different prosthetics and debutant Sharwari looks quite confident.
Both of them are young and presentable with slim and toned bodies, but are unable to create any magic together.
Movie Analysis:
Overall, Bunty Aur Babli 2 is an average movie with no innovation, poor script and much left to be desired direction.
Last but not the least, this movie makes you feel the impossible. It makes you yearn for Abhishek Bachchan! His performance in the prequel was bang on.
