Despite a premise that is loaded with possiblities that I’m sure most viewers would have taken to eagerly with a bit of inquisitiveness, ‘Bobby’ reaches nowhere near any of its triumphant predecessors. It lacks the tastefulness that could have done it tons of good, and instead strikes you as a dramatic overstatement on love that attempts to defy age constraints.
Shebi Chowghat’s ‘Bobby’ dwells on the essentially invigorating young-man-in-love-with-an-older-woman theme that has already seen quite a winners. And yet, if it hardly leaves an impression, it is because it strives to merely propel its circumstances to a long known conclusion and that too with very minimal effort.
Bobby (NIranj) has had it enough with being a seminarian and is chucked out without much trouble, for having caused a bit too much trouble. Life still smiles on him despite the professional doldrums that he has been through, and he runs into Maria (Mia George), a much older woman, who had just discovered that all is not fair in love and war.
Despite a premise that is loaded with possibilities that I’m sure most viewers would have taken to eagerly with a bit of inquisitiveness, ‘Bobby’ reaches nowhere near any of its triumphant predecessors. It lacks the tastefulness that could have done it tons of good, and instead strikes you as a dramatic overstatement on love that attempts to defy age constraints.
‘Bobby’ has neither the delectable subtleties that made the relationship between Sid and Tara so special in Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ (2001), nor the sizzle and the bite and the burn that Ajay Bahl so copiously doled out through the scorching affair between Sarika and Mukesh in his film ‘BA Pass’ (2012).
There is not much logic in seeking out the aesthetics of a former film in another flick that you are currently watching, and yet relative judgements can never probably be kept at bay. It becomes almost impossible to ignore associated analogies, and ‘Bobby’ does score appallingly low on the comparison front.
‘Bobby’ even shows signs of saturation when it moves towards the halfway point, and one almost loses hope of seeing the film revive itself. But revive it does, and it picks up for a very short while, before losing hope and toppling down.
The very obvious, gratifying discomfort that a film as this builds upon, is only fleetingly apparent, and ‘Bobby’ instead saunters the romantic comedy way, that in turn, very often seems desperately in need of some humour and romance.
The momentum of the film slacks big time, and it’s such a shame that a visual argument as this with such a stinging potential, ends up this pedestrian on screen. The long running time of almost two and a half hours isn’t heartening either, and the sketchy script rarely lets it rise above its very basic rom-com roots.
‘Bobby’ would perhaps be remembered for the marvellous performer that Niranj is, and the young man does a charmer of an act, whichever way you look at it. There is also Mia George, who fits the role of Maria to the ‘T’, and affirms that she could do wonders even in a role that does not expect her to do so.
The transformation from Chavakkad to Chowghat for whatever reason seems to have not gone down too well for director Shebi. For his latest, ‘Bobby’ isn’t a patch on either of his earlier films ‘Plus Two’ or ‘Tourist Home’, both of which had been noted for reasons of their own.
Verdict: Average