Butt shows, rest bores

Once upon a time two brothers decided to rule to different areas in Bollywood (so claimed an interview). One found a comfy spot in indie-ventures while the other decided to take rustic-cool to the new high. One made Dev D, the other - Dabangg. 

While one pouts like a disgruntled child over The Lunchbox not going to the Oscars, the other is making movies like Besharam. 

Babli (Ranbir Kapoor) is a lollypop loving car thief who falls in love with Tara (Pallavi Sharda). He has to deal with Chulbul and Bulbul Chautala (Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh) as he decides to start afresh for his love business.  And that is pretty much all there is to

Besharam. 

Dabangg worked because Salman Khan pulled off the rowdy cop act with much flair, they had a great antagonist in Sonu Sood and Sonakshi Sinha had good screen presence. However, with Besharam, Kashyap seems to be just playing with Bollywood clichés without giving the audience much to whistle about. And believe you me, the audience wanted to whistle. 

The Kapoor scion gets the chance of his lifetime - he gets to share screen with his parents who are light years ahead of him in experience. He gets to call his father ‘Darti pe bojh’ on 70mm! 

We must give it to Ranbir that he manages to sail through being thoroughly

besharam, the  actor is very talented. But somehow it is so difficult to get Ranbir out of the ‘cute charmer’ mode; it is easier to imagine Shahid Kapoor try this one after Kaminey and Phata Poster Nikla Hero’s Tu Mere Agal Bagal score. 

Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh are the best parts of the movie. It is sad that they do not get ample screen time. Their comic timings are perfectly matched and the chemistry gives you that warm happy glow of seeing people who have braved the love odds. 

Besharam has a terribly hackneyed plot, the digs at older Bollywood releases (including the towel sequence of Saawariyaa) come across as repetitive and boring. You can trust this Kashyap brother to deliver some great action sequences and he doesn’t disappoint. 

It is great to watch Ranbir on screen, he fills it up, he is entertaining and he can act. But unfortunately for him the plot doesn’t aid much in the whole process of making Besharam into a runaway hit. There are also too many songs.  

Javed Jaffrey as the hawala operator and Amitosh Nagpal as Babli’s friend Titu gets the laughs they deserve but it seems Kashyap was expecting the Kapoor trio to make up for the glaring inadequacies. But then there is just that much a much-loved star couple and their cute son can do - even after displaying his butt cleavage.