Badmaash Company

Film: Badmaash Company
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Vir Das, Meiyang Chang
Genre: Drama
Direction: Parmeet Sethi
Duration: 2 hours 24 minutes
Critic's Rating: 3 stars


Story: Shahid Kapoor and his gang of three friends -- Anushka, Vir Das, Chang -- dream of getting rich quick. Obviously, morals don't have much to do in their show-me-the-money schemes and they set up their million dollar company on umpteen crooked deals. So far so good, but soon power corrupts, the law catches up and family values come in conflict. Can the dream run continue?

Movie Review: They are your average friendly neighbourhood guys: the hazaar Cafe Coffee Day dreamers and diviners who hatch a million plots and plans for a zingy future before their cappuccino gets cold. And they all have one thing in common. They all want the good life fast, any which way, and don't mind breaking a few rules here and there. No nine to five stiff-collared jobs for this Badmaash Company who may have been brought up with middle class values, yet they couldn't care less before dumping them in the nearest trash can. Extra baggage for them, all this blah-blah about imandari (honesty) and izzat (respect).

Hence, the importance of Shahid Kapoor and gang who tell their dads to take a chill pill and turn their backs to papa's punctilious way of life, believing it got him nowhere. In a seminal scene of the film, Shahid watches his mom pawn or sell off her jewels -- or something precious--for a couple of thousands which she hides under pallu, as the duo drive off to the hospital to save daddy (Anupam Kher) who's suffered a heart attack. His eyes well up but his face grows hard, with anger and frustration. Ah! the desperation and the drudgery of the middle class existence....After that, it's mission get-rich-quick all the way, as Shahid embarks upon a dangerous journey with his friends to unleash one shady business deal after the other. The foursome christen their badmaash company as Friends and Co. and hop aboard a roller coaster ride that obviously has no disembarkment point. And, when they've done all the stuff that money can do, they realise they aren't the same simpletons any more. More importantly, Shahid's grown into an egotistical, power-hungry maniac who actually believes he's God! Watch out for this neat little sequence which adds punch to the proceedings.

Indeed, Badmaash Company does have a bunch of riveting scenes, although the story does follow a very predictable line of crime and punishment/repentance.Also, what jars most are the repetitive business deals which form a major chunk of the film and say nothing new, other than the fact that the foursome are building their empire on fraud. The film picks up when the cracks begin to appear and the company breaks up due to internal fission. The chemistry between the foursome does have a dash of energy, although most of the time is spent in song and dance.

Badmaash Company may not be as buoyant as Bunty aur Babli, the original badmash couple in recent cinema, but it does make for some merry viewing.