Cast: Vidya Balan, Ali Fazal, Arjan Bajwa, Supriya Pathak, Tanvi Azmi, Kiran Kumar, Zarina Wahab, Prasad Barve

Direction: Samar Shaikh

Run Time: 2 Hrs 1 Min

Rating: **

Seasons come and go in Bollywood and so does happens to the genres. Now the latest cine aromas which seem to have bridled the prudence of Bollywooders are Women centrism and detective espionage. And genesis of so many movie like "Jagaa Jaasoos" featuring Ranbir Kapoor, "Detective Byomkesh Bakshi" starring Sushant Singh Rajput circumscribed around the core of spy espial narration is one of the conspicuous example of the same.

Although "Jagga Jasoos" and "Detective Byomkesh Bakshi" are under production, but their third partner belonging to same ilk .i.e. "Bobby Jasoos" starring Vidya Balan took the lead and made it to cineplexes outmaneuvering its other genus companions. Contrary to expectations "Bobby Jassoos" could only succeed in securing a below average footfall and opened with an approximate occupancy of 34 % percent at the multiplexes.

Well by now most of the cine enthusiasts have become quit accustomed of seeing Vidya having a rendezvous with diversity. Be it the beginning of her career with TV soap "Hum Paanch", her debut as demure and decorous girl in "Parineeta" or her astounding and out of the box characters in "The Dirty Picture" and "Kahaani", the sinewy actress has always managed to push the bar much ahead of viewers expectations. But unfortunately after delivering aforementioned back to back hits, hitherto Vidya has failed in repeating the success story.This time with "Bobby Jasoos" where this brawny actress is portraying the character of a wannabe detective, Vidya has once again returned to 70 mm screen to prove that when it comes to having a tryst with innovation and experimentation, then she is the bravest performer of Indian showbiz.


But before analyzing the various aspects of "Bobby Jasoos" let's apprise you with the premise first. "Bobby Jasoos" is a story of a 30 year old girl, Bilquees Ahmed aka Bobby ( Vidya Balan) who has grown up in the lanes of old Hyderabad's Mogulpura locality. And fosters a dream of becoming a detective or "Jasoos" in order to break free from the orthodox system of society. Besides her aspirational world, Bobby has a conservative family comprising her mother (Supriya Pathak), sisters and a father (Rajendra Gupta) who is not very pleased with her espial excursions and refuses to agree to the will of his daughter of being the best detective in the neighborhood. But on the other hand even Bobby is not ready to let go her dreams and in order to make them a reality often approaches the established detective agencies, but gets rejected every time.

Eventually with a reprisal feeling in heart Bobby starts a detective agency of her own. And one fine day the lucks knocks Bobby's door when an affluent mysterious stranger Anees Khan (Kiran Kumar) approaches her with an assignment of tracking down some missing people.

Although Bobby takes up the task and even find a few people for Anees, but with frames rolling ahead she becomes suspicious about Anees and goes after him to unearth the reality. So does Bobby succeeds in her mission and why Anees chose only Bobby to track those missing people? To know you have to watch this directorial enterprise of Samar Sheikh.


With the story-line of "Bobby Jasoos", its writer Sanyukta Chawla Shaikh has not only tried to exhibit her cinematic innovation, but has also marked the onset of a new trend by introducing the first female detective of Bollywood to the viewers. But unfortunately that valor of Sanyukta in no manner gets Bobby Jasoos' premise entitled as something path breaking or out of the box.

In fact it won't be wrong to say that despite being a bouquet of a sort, comprising of petals like romance, mild humor, family drama and "so called" thrill premise of "Bobby Jasoos" is so slackly tied, that it looks fuddled throughout its run time. Ever-since its inception narration of "Bobby Jasoos" looks like a partially-studied and halfheartedly executed, ill paced pantomime which seems to be utterly oblivious about its final aim.

On screenplay front Sanyukta along with Samar Shaikh has done a somewhat better job, but the gaffe which she committed while penning down the premise takes its toll here also. Although the in order to embody this lexical opus an entertaining guise, Sanyukta has tried to keep the onscreen proceedings as un-ostentatious as she could, but in the absence of a doughty story-line underneath this entire cine spectacle she fails in doodling any thing praiseworthy.

The flow of the narration through out the run time proceeds at a staggering pace, in the first half it looks like crawling at a snail's pace, whereas in the second half it starts pouncing towards an unworthy climax. And thanks to the faltering premise that "Bobby Jasoos" miserably fails in inculcating any sense of anxiety or curiosity among the spectators. And besides what adds to the tedium potency of "Bobby Jasoos" is the impolitic enameling of the songs.


But one thing which is indubitably praiseworthy is cinematography of Vishal Sinha which captures the the milieu of Hyderabad with impeccable finesse. Editing of Hemant Kothari is too mediocre to add to the matte appearance of the the movie.

As far as music of Shantanu Moitra is concerned then it's unreservedly a forgettable affair, and looks more of like an unsolicited delicatessen served by tagging it as a complimentary bounty. Be it "Jashn","Tu","B.O.B.B" or "Sweety", every melodic embellishments of "Bobby Jasoos" looks like a redundant aural gem stowed merely for making "Bobby Jasoos" a complete Bollywood styled cine enterprise.

Well as far as performances are concerned, then just like "The Dirty Picture" and "Kahaani", Bobby Jasoos too belongs to Vidya. So what if "Bobby Jasoos" has a haywire script and slackly execution, this brawny actress is well accustomed with the art of excelling irrespective of the arena in which she is walking.

So with her meritorious performance in "Bobby Jasoos", Vidya once again makes it clear to everybody that, why she doesn't need any big names opposite her to pull a cinematic enterprise. Be it mouthing Hyderabadi lingo, exhibiting that ambitious attitude of a wannabee detective or of a girl who duly cares for her patriarch every pathos Vidya impersonates with such a magnificence that you feel compelled to become her admirer.

On the other despite being casted opposite one of the most sinewy performers, Ali too succeeds in leaving his mark and looks quite adorable.


Besides, what adds to the over all appeal of the movie is its robust supporting cast comprising of ace performers like Supriya Pathak, Tanvi Azmi, Zarina Wahab, Kiran Kumar, Arjan Bajwa who despite performing on an effete cine fable manage to save the fate of the end product. But the man who emerges as the stand out performer is, Rajendra Gupta (playing the character of Vidya's father in the movie). Aakash Dahiya and Prasad Barve as Bobby aka Vidya's side kicks are just OK.

To sum up, undoubtedly "Bobby Jasoos" could have been a great cine spectacle, but due to bungling story-line it ends up being a muddled gimmickry which looks thoroughly clueless about its path and culmination. And if you still want to have a rendezvous with it then do that strictly for Vidya and her performance.