Baby (Bollywood Movie 2015) - Height of Wishful Thinking

 

So I watched the Bollywood movie Baby, which came out in 2015, directed by Neeraj Pandey. Neeraj's first two movies had taken the nation by storm, immediately catching viewer's attention. So this one was eagerly waited. For this first movie, he told the story of an ordinary man of India, who being fed up of the continuous terror attacks in the country, and being frustrated from the helplessness of the police and judicial system, decides to take matters in his own hands, and meticulously plans to deliver quick justice. The events in the movie unravel over the course of just one day, and from beginning to end, was an edge of the seat thriller. For his second outing, Neeraj decided to go retro, and gave us an account of a real life robbery, where the thieves posed as secret service agents and duped the actual police force. These are not the kind of movies you regularly get to watch from Bollywood.And so, poised on a hat trick, viewers were awaiting his third delivery, which came out this year, and named Baby.

Baby is the code name of a top secret elite Indian agency operating at the highest level of discretion. Its kinda IMF , with only Indians as agents. Just reading this one line would tell you the contradiction hidden in there. The movie tells the accounts of the last mission (well, not exactly last) of the team of …just four agents, who go an international wild goose chase to bring back an terrorist who jumped prison. The whole planning and execution of the team's missions is top notch, the agents are always on time, they never miss a shot, they use top grade fire arms, and don't suffer any causalities, and enjoy the support of the ruling government. Also the team knows that if they are caught or compromised, their government would disavow them. Its a hollywood movie, with lots of Indian masala, and one romantic song sequence added for good measure. The movie was shot in various middle eastern locations, and there are some nice scenes and tightly edited fight sequences. But somehow, it manages to NOT stay with you when you finish watching.

It is all wishful thinking. Kaaash. If our country actually had a top secret agency like this one, we could have seen far lesser terrorist attacks in the country. I just couldn't digest the scenes where the politicians give their full support to the team, without any thoughts of effects on their international relations. It the kind of movie which gives you a shot of patriotism in the arm when you watch it, but in the end, you have to return to reality. But I am sure no other director could have thought up and made this movie this good ever.

So if you want an Indianized Agent Ethan Hunt for a desi IMF, this is your movie.  Just after watching it, I found that the trailer of Mission Impossible's fifth movie has just landed on youtube.