There is catch phrase in Bell Bottom, \’It isn\’t over till it\’s over\’ which is obviously said by Akshay Kumar who is playing the title role. The same catch phrase is true for the ordeal of watching the latest offering by Kumar. It isn\’t over till the end credits start rolling which is 123 minutes after it started playing on Amazon Prime.
Now Akshay Kumar had mastered the art of becoming new age Bharat Kumar. I am sure like many things, he discovered accidentally that was the space he could easily fill. To be fair to him, he was part of many such successful patriotic films. But to give him the credit alone would be wrong. He had directors like Neeraj Pandey and wonderful script writers too. Sadly after successful films the two parted ways and since then Kumar is trying to find the winning combo with little success so far.
Coming to Bell Bottom, if you have seen the promo or if you were lucky enough to watch the film in cinema halls (really? lucky?), you know it\’s about a plane hijack incident and Kumar plays a RAW agent whose code – you guessed it right, is Bell Bottom. Now if you read the synopsis it\’s like tailor-made for Akshay Kumar. There is little that could go wrong. But after spending 123 minutes of a lazy Saturday afternoon, I am sharing the big secret. Everything about the film is wrong.
Script
As said earlier, the script synopsis sounds great. But the full script needs more meat to hold the audience. Here it fails miserably, which has been the case with past so many Akshay films. Agreed the film was shot during strict lockdown conditions but a half baked script won\’t have survived even during the normal times. It looks like the script was not ready and the makers decided to go ahead with the shooting.
Going back to Neeraj Pandey- Akshay Kumar combo (sounds so much like a dish you are ordering that would taste much better than this tasteless film), the characters were fleshed out and there were good, rather excellent actors in other roles too. There are glaring loopholes in the film and without giving away too much let\’s just say ignore them to sit for next 123 minutes.
There is scene in Baby climax (it reads so weird, read that again to get the punch), when the flight is waiting for ATC clearance to take off. Bell Bottom has a similar scene. While the Baby scene had tension building up because you so badly wanted the flight to take off with the prized possession, in this latest offering you don\’t care if the flight is allowed to take off or not. You just want this to end (there is till few minutes left if you check the player). Don\’t worry.
Actors
Ever since the trailer of the film was out Lara Dutta got special mention for her role as Indira Gandhi. Getting the look is fine. It\’s what the script offers after the look that matters. And she is not present throughout the film (it\’s not about her). Adil Hussain is great actor but had very little to do in this film. Vani Kapoor continues her War role of a song, couple of scenes and pack up. It\’s sad to see actors like Huma Qureshi, like Hussain, have been reduced to itsy bitsy roles.
And Akshay Kumar has age catching up with him. Fast. How on earth can he be passed off as a 30/32 year old is beyond me. I mean he is no Aamir Khan who works really hard on his character/look. That Kumar cannot act is a well known secret. It\’s just that producers get their money back and that\’s how he has survived. But not anymore. He reinvented himself to become the Bharat Kumar Hindi film industry was looking for. After all these years, looks like time has come for him to reinvent again. A lean, mean, fit Akshay Kumar is fine but films need more. There are other actors vying for the Bharat Kumar slot like Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. So there is competition for Kumar.
There are two songs in the film. First one is picturised on Kumar and Kapoor and the other one plays in the background during the climax. The KK song is pretty early in the film and it\’s not even on my playlist, which kind of explains there is nothing much to write when it comes to music.
I think the makers also realised the film will not have a long shelf life, like say Baby (I have lost the number of times I have seen it), and hence thought it best to release it on Amazon Prime before it\’s too late.
I was wondering what if the code name was either Sunder, Saand, Pucchi or Dollar given to other RAW agents in the film, instead of Bell Bottom?
While you think about it, look for Baby. It must be playing on one of the platforms and may be watch it again. Give this bottomless movie a miss.