Baby John movie review: Not-so-great vibes

Varun Dhawan and Jackie Shroff in Baby John

Baby John
Director: Kalees
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Jackie Shroff, Rajpal Yadav, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Zara Zyanna

I've been hooked to the Nain Matakka song from Baby John since it released, and it's probably the only thing I enjoyed during the 2 hour 41 minute runtime of this film. That and two kickass scenes featuring Rajpal Yadav. He delivers one heartfelt monologue about how perpetrators of crime against women mostly go unpunished in this country. In another, he holds his ground against gundas who ask the ‘comedy' to get out of their way. "Comedy is serious business" - Yadav's response extracts applause in the movie hall.

What is Baby John about?

If you have watched Vijay starrer Theri, then you already know the story. People who have watched Atlee's 2016 Tamil film say this is a frame-to-frame recreation, although Baby John's makers have denied that. I haven't watched the original, so I went expecting to see Varun Dhawan try something new - this is his first out-and-out action film. I wish the script and direction was as flawless as Varun's dance moves in the song Bandobast.

Varun Dhawan-Jackie Shroff face off lacks punch

Jawan director Atlee has produced this film and there's the ‘save the women from the goon' trope in place alright. Jackie Shroff plays a formidable villain - his transformation is remarkable but the age gap between the hero and the baddie is too evident, which makes it difficult to take their clash seriously.
With Varun declaring he is a Gandhiwadi cop who comes with ‘Good Vibes Only', we long for the menace and intensity required to match a heartless goon like Babbar Sher (Jackie Shroff). Unfortunately, that never happens. In Singham Again, the interaction between Ajay Devgn and Jackie Shroff feels sincere - in Baby John, even though Varun executes much more heroic acts, his face-off with Jackie lacks intensity.

Rajpal Yadav and Jackie Shroff steal the show

In terms of cast, it is Rajpal Yadav and Jackie Shroff who fulfill their parts perfectly. Wamiqa Gabbi and Varun look completely out of place in the Kerala-based sequences. Wamiqa's character arc is underdeveloped and some scenes featuring her are so abrupt that you'll wonder how to connect the dots. Zara Zyanna as Varun's onscreen daughter Khushi is cute, but their scenes aren't that heartwarming.

Keerthy Suresh is adequate as Meera. Her love story with Varun is enjoyable, but they have no visible chemistry. Varun tries everything - dance, romance, action, fatherly emotions, social and moral wokeness, but Salman Khan steals the claps and whistles in his 5-minute action scene at the end. Shows that the younger stars still have a long way to go.

Should you watch Baby John? Welll, there are no Christmas vibes here for sure. It isn't very kid-friendly either. The long runtime is another bummer. If you have time and money to spare, and don't mind an average actioner, go for it.