Bell Bottom Movie Review: Bottom’s up Bollywood!

Bell BottomDir Ranjit TewariCast Akshay Kumar Lara Dutta Vaani KapoorRating 35Honestly it feels strange to be writing about a major desi theatrical release sitting in my hometown Mumbai which in turn is the home of popular Hindi cinema or Bollywood as it wereBut this film itself hasnrsquot made it to local theatres yet Theyrsquore all shut I watched it in the neighbouring town of Surat at a sanitised multiplex that couldrsquove been anywhere in the world Let this moment of pandemic mdash among greater tragedies mdash be also recorded in Mumbairsquos popcorn historyWatch VideoSure it took a while for the film on the big screen around strangers in a hall to settle in And to feel like wersquore back to the old days again Akshay Kumarrsquos presence starts the show This time in the lsquomahaavarirsquo ad mdash sanitary napkin awareness cum antismoking PSA God I missed these tooWhat follows of course is Akshay Kumar as the hero in and as Bell Bottom mdash by some measure the youngest 53yearold flashing back to his youth Where hersquos not just a multilinguist mdash proficient in languages like French and German enough to teach mdashhersquos also a nationallevel chess champion besides an aspirant to the civil services Much later in the movie when one of the characters compares the hero to Chacha Chaudhary whose brain works faster than a computer he shuts him offThe genius is apparent It doesnrsquot need to be spelled out Even as the hero can see through all the designs and plans of a deepstate behind a massive airplane hijack He can sense patterns that all government agencies put together canrsquot And hersquos never wrong The film is roughly set between the late rsquo70s and mid rsquo80s As is the super peppy background scoreGiven the time frame think of it perhaps as Ben Affleckrsquos Argo 2012 mdash similarly about a tight undercover crackteam tasked with securing lives of citizens in a hostage crisis abroad What would your worries be if that was adapted thickly layered with garam masala in mainstream Bollywood Guessing item songs romantic angle overload of jingoism etc Those concerns are wholly unfoundedWhat the competent director Ranjit Tewari writers Aseem Arora Parvez Shaikh mdash the ldquostory ideardquo is credited to producer Vashu Bhagnani mdash introduce instead with appropriate dose is the emotional element of a happy family a mother Dolly Ahluwalia such a star in particular This gives the hero a motive to give his all And the audiences a reason to back him even more What we are looking at also is a neat hagiography in a way of Indiarsquos external secret service agency RAW that wersquove seen several of in the recent past Notably Salman Khanrsquos Tiger franchise Salman is shooting its third instalment as we speak Akshay himself has headlined the superb Baby 2015 You could technically place this film as his own second instalment of an imminent spy trilogyOr you could see it as an extension of his feisty Airlift 2016 mdash similarly about a cool Punjabi dude who saved the day for India leading the hugest rescue operation during Gulf War which we learnt indepth fictionalised details of That one involved the national carrier Air India As does this film mdash likewise dealing with the wellknown 1984 hijack of Indian Airlines Flight 405 from Delhirsquos Palam airportHard to tell better or worse Bell Bottom does match the scale and lively spirit of both Baby and Airlift This is tall praise to start with The lead character Irsquom told is based on two real life spies The story itself inspired by supposedly ldquodeclassified documentsrdquo Akshay says is ldquo80 per cent truerdquoWhich 80 per cent of course we donrsquot know What feels the most adorably real though is Lara Dutta as Indira Gandhi mdash pretty much morphing into the late Indian Prime Minister lending a touch of authenticity that movies of this genre desperately hope forAlso Read Ajay Devgn lauds buddy Akshay Kumar for BellbottomAs the film flits between multiple time stamps mdash 1978 rsquo80 rsquo82 rsquo84 mdash I found it hard to keep track by way of a factcheck This could also be because of so much happening before a dark glass The movie is in 3D Which Irsquom guessing is more to curb Internet piracy than adding immensely to how you receive the film itselfWhat doesnrsquot feel as believable though I guess the extended incredulous climax You could lay the same blame on a series of movies that rarely meet the promise of their robust first halfBut up until that point yoursquove been on a ride fun enough for you to tag along with all thatrsquos going on No questions askedItrsquos a hoot mdash now when was the last time you heard someone say so after switching off a filmseries on an OTT platform at homeotherwise Yoursquove gotta hear the hoots for it and the lsquoseetisrsquo at least the laughs and the sighsThatrsquos what cinema as a definition is supposed to be mdash enjoyed with a collective of friends and strangers in a dark hall and popcorn on your lap Imagine mdash I went all the way from Bombay to Surat for thisWouldrsquove torn my hair off if the experience hadnrsquot lived up to the anticipation Sure it does Phew Over to you mdashwhenever you can depending on where you areAlso Read Bellbottom Akshay Kumar pays tribute to our unsung heroes with the new song

Bell Bottom Movie Review: Bottom’s up Bollywood!

Bell Bottom
Dir: Ranjit Tewari
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: 3/5

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Home / Entertainment / Bollywood News / Article / Bell Bottom Movie Review: Bottom’s up Bollywood!

Bell Bottom Movie Review: Bottom’s up Bollywood!

Bell BottomDir: Ranjit TewariCast: Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Vaani KapoorRating: 3/5

Trending Stories

Latest Photos

Latest Videos

Latest Web Stories

Mid-Day Fast

Bell Bottom
Dir: Ranjit Tewari
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: 3/5