Baby

       It has been a long time now I am writing a review, infact a long time I am writing a new blog. I wanted to write one but I wasn’t getting the right kind of film about which I would love to write.
But today, I have one.

Neeraj Pandey’s Baby!

            Arguably for the rest of the Indian audience ‘Baby’ has the class which Indian viewers never even thought to experience in the Indian cinema this soon. After the superb, ‘A Wednesday’, which had more than awesome dialogues & screenplay, very well directed and astoundingly cost effective film for a first time director. Neeraj Pandey’s ‘Special 26’ too made its space in the list of good cinemas in India as well. Though Special 26 takes the 3^rd place in Neeraj Pandey’s three ventures, it too had a superb class and showed an authentic robbery.

Coming back to the topic of the day – Baby.

It is a story of a secret group called BABY which consisted of 12 specially handpicked members of ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad, India). From which only 4 are left as the time passed by. Feroz (Danny Denzongpa) the head of the team whose rest of the members are Ajay (Akshay Kumar), Jai (Rana Daggubati), Priya (Tapsee Pannu), and Shukla ji (Anupan Kher). The whole film is a series of small missions, one mission leading to a different lead and that lead, leading to a new mission, finally bringing to the attention a huge conspiracy against India by two terrorist groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Indian Mujahideen (IM), together. The team Baby’s this huge mission, which is not official, and so much unofficial that if any of the members are caught by any international army or the terrorist group, the Nation of that member would disown the member, taking no responsibility of him what-so-ever.

       The Tension maintained throughout the film is tremendous. From the very first voiceover narration by Feroz, the film takes an exponential pace. You need to be at the edge of your seat and keep all of your senses open and active. Kay Kay Menon as Bilal and Rashid Naz as Maulana Mohammed Rehman played great negative roles. The screenplay of the film is just above the class. The minute details are the key elements used by the film maker. There is not a single instance where you are given time to talk to the person whom you are watching the movie with or even to think if you are getting bored. There is so much of activity happening in every scene and too much of creativity in every shot.

The film is very tactfully written. All the aspects of Indian Military, ATS, the pressure of the bosses of ATS, The secretive nature of the Agents, the discipline of the members, the personal life, the personal egos, the change of approach at every moment, the ruthless decisions they have to take, their constant struggle with their own subconscious to keep forth the IQ over their EQ and last but not the least the determined peculiarity of speaking Accurate, clear-cut and to the point messages while communicating, everything mentioned above is evidently shown and thoroughly used.

The film is brutally honest and there is not a single thing which may seem unbelievable throughout the film.

The characters that are written are so much of life. The determined and meticulous attitude they carry makes us believe so much that they are the ATS Secret Agents and not the actors we saw in Dum Maro Dum, Apna Sapna Money Money, Entertainment and Bang Bang respectively. (Respect to the actors, not to those films). Every character has a definition and distinct persona but still their minds are portrayed as one.

The cinematography and the editing were two over challenging aspects which are pulled of miraculously well. This proves that if given a good opportunity and amazing script to a qualified director, he can yearn out the talent that no one ever thought that people in India could bring out. Sudeep Chatterjee as the DOP and Shree Narayan Singh as the Editor have done a ‘hands down’ job. Also, the production design was so believable that the film was almost matching the Hollywood Standards. 

A screen-shot of Tapsee Pannu during the fight sequence.

Two things which climbed to the top in this film for me are the two sequences – 1^st is the bare hand ferocious fight sequence in the hotel room between Sushant Singh (Wasim Khan) & Tapsee Pannu (Priya). Unlike the too soft and too feminist fights, like Priyanka Chopra’s in Don, where only the heroine gets to hit the bad guys, and still get the praises for every punch she gives, this one is too bare and naked to believe it as a fight between A man and a woman. When feminists say that men and women are equal, they should be like the Priya’s character, and not ask for special facilities because they are women. It felt so good to see a woman portrayed this strong and capable, the will and the might of the Priya’s character is so strong that a guy like me would feel safe if I am with her. The equality portrayed in the genders was necessary as Ajay and Priya are both the members of ATS and the reason they both are the members is because they have equal potential. Also the succeeding shot where Ajay enters to save Priya but Priya has already taken Wasim down. There is a brief pause and Ajay does not even praise or compliment Priya for the bravery, this shows that it is supposed to be like this – Priya is in squad and it is her duty to be this brave, nothing new in it. – This is just superb.
And 2nd – A short sequence of Pakistan where how Maulana Mohammed Rehman of LeT, perceives India and Indians is shown. It is very scary and it does bring Goosebumps. Maulana is sitting in his fort and talking to his associates and walks to the balcony area where 1000s of people are waiting for him to address them. That shot is also amazingly conceived and thought.
Also every other thing in the film is superb, just that these two made an impression which will last long.

Neeraj Pandey will now be counted in the top and influential directors in India. His standard has risen by multiples and respect has risen to reverence.

          Baby is a revolution which came too soon. Baby is the most authentic and ahead of time Thriller, a real thriller, very true to the genre film ever made in India.
I will love to believe that with this Baby, we have the Birth of true to the genre cinema that will now be seen in India.

I would rate this film 9/10.