Bobby Jasoos : More of a lite family entertainer than detective suspense thriller
Vidya Balan is one of the only few actresses who gets to do films written for her. After strong female oriented films like “Parineeta”, “Kahani” and blockbuster “Lage Raho Munnabhai”, audience now expects a great film experience from her. After her last few films fizzled out, Vidya is here with “Bobby Jasoos”. Let’s she how it fairs.
Bobby Jasoos is about Bilkis/Bobby, a girl from a middle class family from old Hyderabad (Precisely Mughalpura) who is obsessed with the idea of being a detective. She tries hard to get a job at G-Force Detective Agency but is insulted by the owner Sodhi (Sukesh Anand) and she challenges him that she will open a detective agency in front of his office.
Operating from a small cyber cafe run by Shetty (Prasad Barve), Bobby tries to solve various cases (Mostly related to background check for marriage proposals) with the help of Aakash Dahiya (Munna) and an electronic gadgets guy. She soon get a high paying job to find few people with just name, birth year and birth mark. Using her cleverness and unique ideas, Bobby does find 2 girls but then when she builds doubt for her own client, Anees Khan (Kiran Kumar), she tries to find the truth on why these people need to be found in first place.
While all this is happening, her father (Rajendra Gupta) is against all her activities, but she continues to do it due to the support of her mother (Supriya Pathak). Apart from this family track, there is a love track between Bobby and a a TV show host Tasawur (Ali Fazal), who is also her client who does not want to get married to the girl in same locality and social strata. Similarly, there is another small track of Lala (Arjan Bajwa) who is a local goon looking to marry Afreen (Anupriya).
All these tracks are intersected with each other and reveal the connections at the end.
Story by Samar Shaikh has interesting premise but has a week suspense track. Screenplay by Sanyukta Chawla Shaikh is good but again let down by the suspense blunder. However, the writing swiftly mixes various elements like the detective track, family track and the lover story and is interesting at many points even if it fails at few. We would have also loved more funny hyderabadi dialogs.
With a tighter screenplay and treatment like suspense thriller, it could have been better. But I think the writers did not had a suspense thriller but a small lite family film in mind. This is a classic case of disappointment due to marketing image projection and actual film content.
Director Samar Shaikh does a fine job though he should have made the film slicker by editing out unnecessary songs and by making the film tighter. Sometimes there is confusion in remembering so many characters and their motives in the multiple tracks which distracts audience from the flow of the story. First half of the movie is interesting and I liked the post interval parts till pre-climax more. In future, we can expect better movies from the Director.
The film has huge cast and Vidya herself plays many roles (or getups) in her detective endeavours. She is top notch though does look older to her hero in love scenes. She must do something about it. She does amuse the audience with her various getups and characters. Ali Fazal as Tasawur does equally good job. He is a natural. Similarly Supriya Pathak as Bobby’s mother does a very loveable job. Tanvi Azmi and Zarina Wahab are a delight to watch. Rajendra Gupta as Bobby’s father does a good job too. I liked the supporting casts Prasad Barve and Aakash Dahiya too. Arjan Bajwa as Lala also impresses in his small role. Everyone in every small role does a good job. In short, casting by Shruti Mahajan and Parag Mehta is spot on.
On the technical side, Cinematography by Vishal Sinha is remarkable. Production Design by Tariq Umar Khan is admirable. Vidyadhar Bhatte as Special Makeup effects artist must be mentioned. Editing by Hemal Kothari could have been better. Music by Shantanu Moitra is average and passé. Overall, a good production effort by Producers Dia Mirza and Sahil Sangha.
To sum it up, Bobby Jasoos is a good film if you do not go in theatres with prejudice to watch a detective suspense thriller. In fact it is a fun, lite, family entertainer with interesting love story.
Recommendation : If you like to watch lite entertainment and can live with few dull moments, then you will enjoy the film.
