What Is the Story About?
Jio Cinema’s Bloody Daddy is a remake of French action film ‘Nuit Blanche’, aka ‘Sleepless Night’. The events of the film, set in the backdrop of a Gurugram night club, take place over one night. Rogue cop Sumair (Shahid Kapoor) gate-crashes a drug run, and flicks cocaine worth crores, which turn out to be owned by nightclub owner cum drug lord Sikandar (Ronit Bose Roy), and mafia boss Hamid (Sanjay Kapoor).
Sikandar kidnaps Sumair’s teenaged son Atharva (Sartaj Kakkar), and will only let him go in exchange for the drugs. Sumair goes on an adrenaline-charged violence spree at the nightclub to get back his son, even as anti-narcotics cops Sameer (Rajeev Khandelwal) and Aditi (Diana Penty) threaten to put a spanner in his works.
Bloody Daddy is written and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, co-written by Aditya Basu, and produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Sunir Khetarpal, Gaurav Bose Himanshu Kishan Mehra and Ali Abbas Zafar.
Performances?
Shahid Kapoor is the only good part of an otherwise mediocre movie. The actor displays a range of histrionics, stylish and showy, keeping the attention of the viewer solely on himself. He’s good when he’s angsty, okay in the few tender scenes he shares with his son, but best when he goes all guns blazing at the bad guys.
Ronit Bose Roy and Sanjay Kapoor are reduced to caricatures. Despite being villains of the piece, both come across as incapable of hurting even a fly. Still, they’re quite entertaining in the midst of all the hullabaloo. Rajeev Khandelwal proves his mettle in the substantial role he’s got. Diana Penty is average in her role of a determined cop. Ankur Bhatia and Vivaan Bhatena, as Sikandar’s siblings, are good additions to the cast, doing justice to their roles.
Analysis
Bloody Daddy suffers from a terrible John Wick hangover. In trying to imitate the superb Keanu Reeves films, writer-director Abbas Ali Zafar only succeeds in making a caricature of the beloved film franchise – a sub-standard one at that. Bloody Daddy has a good thing going for it – its stellar cast. But the story and screenplay fail to cash in on the talents at its disposal. Imagine having the audacity to reduce Ronit Bose Roy to playing a bumbling idiot – the actor who was menacing personified as Madhavrao Shellar in Kaabil.
Abbas Ali Zafar’s story fails to do justice to each of its cast members, with the sole exception of Shahid Kapoor. He’s the only one who gets to display his acting prowess to the hilt in Bloody Daddy – be it acting goofy atop the dining table in an unintentionally funny scene; or bashing a man in the loo after making him repeat “no means no” a gazillion times; or cajoling two terrified north-eastern guys into doing his bidding. To reiterate – Shahid Kapoor is the only good thing in Bloody Daddy. But that’s simply not enough to keep viewers engaged and entertained for a solid two hours running.
The action scenes in the film are well-shot and choreographed. But they have a certain overdone feel to them as opposed to an organic spontaneous feel that elevates any action set piece from good to great – like the John Wick action sequences, for instance. Simply getting your protagonist to scamper about in glitzy enclosed spaces, bashing up a goon here and there, doesn’t a John Wick make.
The script also suffers from silly loopholes, which it never recovers from. Even the sub-plots are boring. Sumair’s estranged relationship with his wife seems contrived and stretched. The father-son relationship at the centre of the plot is a damp squib of sorts. You never feel emotionally invested in Atharva’s kidnapping or Sumair’s concern for his son. The only time you’re entertained by the kid is on his priceless expression at the end of the film when he discovers drugs in the glove box of his father’s car. The gobsmacked look on his face is to die for.
The rest of the time, you just want to smack the over-smart kid on the head to put some sense into him. Ditto for the writers of Bloody Daddy, for the travesty of a script they’ve churned out.
To sum it up, Bloody Daddy is funny and entertaining in bits, but caricaturish the rest of the time. It is good for a one-time watch, only for the high jinks, especially so for Shahid Kapoor fans.
Music and Other Departments?
Having Badshah on board doesn’t guarantee great music, as proven by Bloody Daddy’s musical score. The background music, by Julius Packiamcan, is too on-the-nose and boisterous to be enjoyable. Marcin Laskawiec’s cinematography is average, nothing to write home about. Steven H. Bernard’s editing is competent.
Highlights?
Shahid Kapoor’s charisma and screen presence
Drawbacks?
Caricaturish storytelling
Poor John Wick imitation
Mediocre script
Lacks emotional connect
Did I Enjoy It?
Not much
Will You Recommend It?
As a one-time watch
Bloody Daddy Movie Review by Binged Bureau
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