Bhavesh joshi reviews and box office

Harshvardhan Kapoor shuffled his way into Hindi cinema with the reincarnation romance Mirzya in 2016. The blandness and diffidence that define Kapoor's screen persona make him a good fit for Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, but these qualities also ensure that his character gets more interesting only when he puts on a mask and hides his identity to ensure justice through vigilante methods.

The movie isn't even named after Kapoor's character, but after that of his collaborator. Bhavesh Joshi (Priyanshu Painyuli) and Sikandar (Kapoor) are friends who want to do something about the rotten state of affairs in Mumbai. Inspired by an India Against Corruption-type social movement, they set up a YouTube channel called Insaaf TV. Their faces concealed by brown paper bags, the friends target indiscriminate tree cutting, public urination and drivers going down the wrong way on no-entry streets. Sikandar outgrows the channel and gets ready to relocate to America, but Bhavesh remains committed to the cause. When a resident tips off Bhavesh about water being pilfred from the municipal supply line, Bhavesh stumbles onto a racket that goes all the way to the top and involves a state minister (Nishikant Kamat).

Sikandar gets tangled in Bhavesh's mission without wanting to. Sikandar's ambivalence towards and gradual acceptance of Bhavesh's zeal allow Motwane and co-writers Anurag Kashyap and Abhay Koranne to deconstruct the mythology of the comic book superhero. In one nifty scene, a police sketch of the masked avenger who has attacked a water theft centre serves as shorthand to establish how the Bhavesh Joshi mythos is being built, one blow at a time.

Another reference to a classic Hollywood production nicely ties Bhavesh Joshi Superstar to the film noir genre. Sikandar acquires a bandage on his nose after a brawl, which is a visual homage to Jack Nicholson's fumbling detective from Chinatown (1974). A more obvious element links Nicholson's character Jake Gittes to Sikandar Gittes is investigating a scam that involves the diversion of water supply and lucrative real estate.

Yet another tribute, however, undermines Bhavesh Joshi Superhero's ambition to be a vigilante movie that is rooted in realism and at a remove from previous fantasy-laden endeavours. The Dark Knight (2008) casts a long shadow over Bhavesh Joshi Superhero, especially in the debates surrounding the ethics of vigilantism and the efficacy of taking on a well-entrenched criminal enterprise. But the local production is far less effective in creating a template that future movies could follow.

Bhavesh Joshi Superhero works beautifully until the interval point before gradually losing its way to laboured plotting, implausible twists and banal moralising. Motwane sets up his characters and themes with tremendous economy and intelligence up until the point where Sikandar has embraced his inner Bhavesh Joshi. As Sikandar stumbles along in his attempt to get to the source of the water mafia, the 153-minute movie moves further away from the cold logic that powered the pre-interval section and collapses into a hodge-podge of training montages and unconvincing acts of payback.

The absence of any actual superheroic qualities in Sikandar combines with his social isolation to make his achievements questionable, if not a flight of fantasy. For all its attempts to root the events in the problems facing Mumbai, the movie exists in the same kind of vacuum in which superheroes and vigilantes from graphic novels thrive. The Insaaf TV activists have no engagement with other civic or political movements in Mumbai. The news media that usually exposes scams and corruption plays the role of background noise in the movie. The vigilantes function in solitude, without the benefit of a family or the semblance of a community to make their activism meaningful.

Bhavesh and Sikandar seem to be orphans who share an apartment and are soldered together in a bromantic relationship. Sikandar does have a girlfriend, Sneha (Shreiyah Sabarwal), but she is ornamental and disappears from view soon after entering the frame.

Even as the movie leaps off the cliff, Motwane comes up with some bravura set pieces, including a chase sequence involving motorcycles, a local railway train and some nifty stunts. Siddharth Diwan's striking cinematography much of which unfolds in the night-time and in the rain captures Mumbai in all its grimy glory. The recurring motif of the colour red enlivens the unrelenting darkness that threatens to swallow up Bhavesh and Sikandar.

The movie puts Mumbai's locations to excellent use, but the city itself fades into the background as an inspiration for righteous law-breaking. For all its promises of looking at Mumbai's seemingly intractable problems with a fresh eye, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero offers solutions that are far removed from reality. The film moves away from common sense as it descends into genre territory. It doesn't help that its leading man fails to take audiences along.

The story's real superhero isn't Harshvadhan Kapoor's dull Sikandar, but Priyanshu Painyuli's passionate Bhavesh. Painyuli plays Bhavesh with real feeling, and the exact moment of the film's descent can be pinpointed to the moment when his character cedes ground to Sikandar. The myth takes over the man, but Painyuli ensures that the man matters too.

A still from Bhavesh Joshi Superhero/Image from YouTube.

Bhavesh Joshi Superhero Movie Review: Harshvardhan Kapoor impresses in this unique take on superhero genre

There is a dialogue in the film towards the end, "Democracy mein aukaat sabki hoti hai. Bas humein ladna nahin chhodna chahiye." Mouthed by a brilliant Priyanshu Painyuli, this dialogue, you realise, is the crux of this unique take on superhero/vigilante film. Director Vikramaditya Motwane, who is known for pushing the envelope with each of his films be it Udaan, criminally underrated Lootera or last year's masterpiece Trapped, has done the unthinkable when it comes to the superhero genre.

There is no doubt about the fact that India is way behind the west when it comes to such films. There are more misses than hits. And even some of those films which have worked at the box office *cough* Krrish 3 *cough* they were heavily influenced by its western counterparts.

Bhavesh Joshi Superhero is ground-breaking. This superhero film is nothing like you have seen before. The major reason for that is it's about the ground reality of modern-day India and the "superhero" is an everyman.

The ordeal, the lead characters go through, especially in the first half, are relatable and are bound to make you angry and irritated by what transpires on screen. The film makes us realise how, in search of comfort and an easy way out, we have made our peace with corruption and injustice in our society. Bhavesh Joshi Superhero will make you question your conscience. Also read: Harshvardhan in Bhavesh Joshi, Anil Kapoor in Mr India - 3 father-son duos who played superheroes on screen

The first half of the film is taut, edgy, and quite engaging. The route, the film takes interests you. And the brilliant interval point excites you for what's gonna happen in the second half of the film. However, sadly, it loses track post interval. At 2 hours 34 minutes approx, Bhavesh Joshi Superhero starts to lag and, in fact, at few moments starts to test your patience. The film badly needed a sharp and edgy editing in its second half.

Harshvardhan Kapoor, who made an utterly disappointing debut with Mirzya, impresses here. Though there are still few loose ends, he exhibits rawness and anger of today's youth quite perfectly. I am also impressed by him for his career choices. I am now looking forward to Bindra and whatever he chooses to do post that.

His partner in crime played by Priyanshu Painyuli is the heart of the film. The actor who played the corporator is believable. A scene featuring him and Harshvardhan at a dance bar is quite fun. Ashish Verma as the narrator as well as Bhavesh Joshi's friend is good too. The sore thumb in the otherwise good casting is Nishikant Kamat. He was bad and hammy in Rocky Handsome and he is bad here as well.

The posters and the first teaser of the film promised it to be a noir action thriller, but the action is only good in parts. Though, I enjoyed the sequence in the house of the municipal guy played by Hrishikesh Joshi.

The music and background score by Amit Trivedi is amazing.

This may not be Vikramaditya Motwane's best film but it is probably his most ambitious and sometimes even disturbing for it deals with the reality