What Is the Story About?
Prime Video India’s direct to digital Bollywood release ‘Bawaal’ centres on a young couple (Varun Dhawan, Janhvi Kapoor) in a dysfunctional marriage, and headed towards a divorce. A chance visit to Europe and the cities that were caught in the eye of World War II proves to be a redemption of sorts for the couple.
Bawaal’s story is written by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, the screenplay is written by Nitesh Tiwari, Nikhil Mehrotra, Shreyas Jain and Piyush Gupta, and is directed by Nitesh Tiwari.
Performances?
Varun Dhawan renders an endearing performance as the pompous, obnoxious, self-obsessed masochist Ajay, aka Ajju. His well-written character gives him ample scope to display his acting prowess. Janhvi Kapoor looks ethereal as the good-hearted Nisha. She conveys the naive simplicity of the character well, though her delivery of dialogue needs working upon.
Manoj Pahwa and Anjuman Saxena are delightful as Varun Dhawan’s parents. Mukesh Tiwari is efficient as ever. Prateek Pachori lends good support as Ajay’s best friend. The child actors are adorable.
Analysis
Bawaal is yet another example of a screenplay that looked revolutionary and ingenuous on paper, but turned out to be a not-so-sensible idea when executed. Creators Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari may have embarked on the creation of Bawaal under the illusion that it will be the next Jojo Rabbit or Life Is Beautiful. But alas, Bawaal turned out to be a movie that is quite tone-deaf and insensitive. With Bawaal, the Tiwaris discovered, to their detriment, that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Ajay is a man who believes in the adage, ‘fake it till you make it’. It’s another thing altogether that his ‘faking it’ doesn’t get him anywhere, except in the cross-hairs of the local politician. Ajay is a lousy History teacher, but an even lousier human being. He finds fault with everything and everyone but his own inadequacy.
When he gets married to the pretty, refined, over-achieving Nisha, it’s only because marrying her will be another notch in the fake aura he’s built around himself. Her epilepsy puts a spanner in his works, though; because, what if people find out that his wife is “defective”?
Everything that Ajay does is only for the sake of his “image” – the one he’s built over the years, with effort and ingenuity. A twist of fate — quite a silly one, too — lands Ajay and Nisha in Europe, specifically, in the cities that were the epicenter of World War II. So we have the duo visiting Paris, Anne Frank’s make-shift home in Amsterdam, Omaha Beach of Normandy, Berlin, and finally the most harrowing of them all – the concentration camp at Auschwitz.
Amidst all of the above, the only thing that keeps playing on one’s mind is this – whatever were the writers and creators of Bawaal thinking when they chose to draw parallels between a dysfunctional marriage and the horrors of the holocaust? The horrifying events that unfolded at Auschwitz during the World War II depict the evil that resides within humans at its worst. It is ‘the’ darkest chapter in the history of mankind. Just reading about the horrors at Auschwitz makes one’s skin crawl – that the Tiwaris could even think of shooting a romantic drama at the place is quite laughable – not to say, deplorable. Imagine creating cinematic history by becoming the first Hindi film to shoot at Auschwitz; and then coming up with such drivel!
Apart from the Auschwitz misfire, another thing that rankles majorly in Bawaal is its abominable depiction of the quite common condition of epilepsy. Labelling a person suffering from fits as “defective” is the pits, really; even if said in the heat of the moment. And it’s just so not done, especially with how far Indian cinema has come in handling sensitive subjects on screen. We expected better from you, Ashwiny and Nitesh Tiwari!
To sum it up, Bawaal is a movie that has a few good moments – for instance, the few entertaining sequences when Nisha and Ajay enjoy in each other’s company and discover things about each other. The first half of the movie is quite good, in fact. But it has a lot more silly and outright stupid sequences that make up most of the second half of the movie. The silliness of it all is also what stays with you when you’re finally done with the movie.
Music and Other Departments?
Mithoon, Tanishk Bagchi and Akashdeep Sengupta’s musical score for the movie is average. Not a single song is memorable enough or makes much of an impact. Daniel B. George’s background score is good, especially in the World War II scenes. Mitesh Mirchandani’s cinematography is good, and captures the essence of the story well. Charu Shree Roy’s editing is flawless.
Highlights?
Varun Dhawan’s performance
Janhvi Kapoor
Drawbacks?
Tone-deaf premise
Insensitive depiction of touchy subjects
Did I Enjoy It?
Not much
Will You Recommend It?
Not much
Bawaal Movie Review by Binged Bureau