Bachelor Party Movie Review

"Bachelor Party" is a 2024 Kannada comedy-drama film written and directed by Abhijit Mahesh, and is his directorial debut. While it had a promising start, the movie became tedious to watch later on.

Produced by Rakshit Shetty under Paramvah Studios, the film hit screens on January 26th. It features Diganth as Santosh, Achyuth Kumar as P.T. Master Ashwath Narayan, Yogesh as Madhav aka "Maddy", and the cast also features Siri Ravikumar, Balaji Manohar, Achara Kirk, Prakash Thuminad, Pawan Kumar, Sowmya Jaganmurthy, Shobaraj, Shwetha Srinivas, Sudha Belawadi, Jayalakshmi Patil and Gaana Bhat. Cinematographer Arvind Kashyap and editors Arvind S. Kashyap and Abhishek M. collaborated on the film, with music composed by Arjun Ramu.

Plot Summary

Santosh is miserable both at home and in his job. Fed up with his wife's constant nagging and having lost a promotion, he decides to go to his friend's bachelor party without telling anyone. There, he meets his troublesome childhood friend Madhav, also known as 'Maddy,' and his physical education instructor, Ashwath Narayan. As the party begins, everyone ends up drunk.

The next morning, Santhosh realizes that he took Maddy and Ashwath there, intoxicated. The trio enjoys their time in Bangkok, but Santhosh is taken aback when he discovers that his wife, Sandhya, is having an affair with someone else and is in Bangkok. The group set off on a trip to find Sandhya.

However, they are unexpectedly captured by Prakash Anna, who mistook the trio for Indian police officers because of Maddy, but Prakash lets them go and discreetly sends stickers containing "Blue Sky," a costly drug, to his brother-in-law Mahabala. A misadventure occurs for the group, and Maddy meets and falls for Achara, a single mother.

The trio passes the package on to Mahabala's assistant and leaves. However, Mahabala discovers jackfruits rather than stickers, as Maddy gave the stickers to Achara's son Navin to make him happy. Mahabala captures the trio when they attempt to see Sandhya at a friend's wedding and orders them to retrieve the stickers.

Various hilarious incidents happen, including Mahabala starting a gunfight to finish his rival Marchello at the wedding. Maddy wins Achara's trust by rescuing Navin during the shooting. Mahabala kills Marchello with support from Ashwath, and Santhosh breaks up with Sandhya. Later, Maddy marries Achara, Santhosh develops feelings for Asha, his childhood crush, and Ashwath finally speaks with his son.

Cinematography

The film's photography uses split screens, telescopic lens zoom-ins, and quick transitions, and is highly dynamic. Every supporting character has a special introduction complete with original camera angles and melodies. The visual language of "Bachelor Party" Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn's criminal comedies and vintage stoner comedies like "The Hangover".

Direction

"Bachelor Party" is too focused on delivering laughs at every turn, sacrificing emotional depth and a cohesive screenplay for witty retorts and bizarre situations. The film uses the concept of a dysfunctional marriage for humor, but this concept is overly stretched, resulting in a tedious narrative. Bachelor Party fails to maintain a consistent comic tone, with some scenes being truly humorous while others fall short, especially in situational comedy.

Cast Performance

Fabulous performances by the cast were the lifeline of "Bachelor Party."Diganth lends his distinctive, doe-eyed innocence to the character, who is never happy in life and cannot be taken seriously even when angry. While his performance falls well short of parts in Yograj Bhat flicks, he gives it his all with the material. Yogesh is a woman-hating, unmarried man by choice. Maddy possesses a lot of charisma and wit. He captures the character's almost immature nature well but is bogged down once more by superficial writing and humor. Achyuth Kumar is undoubtedly the film's highlight. A drunk instructor with life lessons to teach former students is an overused trope, but Kumar lends freshness to the character and has some insightful passages.

Conclusion

"Bachelor Party" seems to aim for the same humor as "The Hangover" but falls short. It is too focused on delivering laughs at every turn, sacrificing emotional depth and a cohesive screenplay for witty retorts and bizarre situations. Even with outstanding actors like Diganth, Yogesh, Pawan Kumar, and Achyuth Kumar, the director fails to keep the comedic situations realistic, depriving the audience of a good chuckle for their money.