In terms of sheer scale and budget, Bang Bang is the biggest release of 2014. The Hrithik Roshan – Katrina Kaif starrer has been in news right from the day it went on floors and the craze for the film peaked with the release of its theatrical teaser. Directed by Siddarth Anand, Bang Bang promises to entertain the audience with action sequences that have never been witnessed in a Bollywood film before. Does the film deliver on its promises? Let’s find out.
Story: Bang Bang begins with the killing of Viren Nanda (Jimmy Shergill). Cut to the next scene, we have the beautiful and single Harleen Sahni (Katrina Kaif) bathing, while her grandmother talks about the stolen Kohinoor diamond. Meanwhile, desperate to find a date, Harleen logs on to Truluvv.com and registers for a date with an unknown person. She bumps into Rajveer Nanda (Hrithik Roshan), who she mistakes to be her date. Bowled over by her beauty, Rajveer charms Harleen and the two fall in love. Or do they? What is their true identity? Watch the movie to find out.
Review: Director Siddharth Anand had everything at his disposal to make a good entertaining film - two of the most popular actors in the country, a humongous budget, a Hollywood action director who has worked on films like ‘The Amazing Spiderman 2’ and also a scriptwriter who last scripted ‘Kahaani’ in Sujoy Ghosh. Unfortunately, the film lacks in two major departments – story and direction. By the end of its 156 minute runtime, the only saving grace for Bang Bang are the action sequences and the charisma, style and dancing skills of Hrithik Roshan.
The first half, which is meant to build the suspense around the character of Rajveer is stretched too long and the director seems to be as clueless as the audience at intermission time. The background score is loud, the action sequences – although brilliantly designed and performed - are way too long and the leading lady of the film only makes things worse.
Things improve in the second half, a few dialogues and action scenes do keep the interest level going and the film does end well. Music is good, but even though the film has just 4 songs, it feels like one too many. The second song in the first half, Uff, seemed out of place and unnecessary. Meherbaan and the title song (closing credits, don’t miss it) are the best songs in the film.
Hrithik Roshan is the heart and soul of Bang Bang, he looks terrific is every scene, acts brilliantly and has the charisma and style to pull off a difficult role. He keeps up his energy level up throughout and gives the film his all. Full marks on commitment and dedication. Sadly, he is let down by his director. Katrina Kaif can’t act. She tries too hard, both to look cute and act. She gets the former right, which explains why she has been successful all these years. This might sound a little too harsh, but the moment she opens her mouth to deliver a dialogue, it makes you cringe. Sorry Kat, you are the hottest leading lady in the industry today, but acting is something that doesn’t come naturally to you. Danny Denzongpa and Javed Jaffrey are wasted. Bang Bang is Hrithik’s show all the way, the rest have very little to do.
Overall, weak direction and screenplay let the film down. The first half is poor, the second half is better. Having said that, Hrithik alone is worth the price of your ticket. He is that good. Two and a half stars for Bang Bang, with the amount of money spent, it should have been so much better than it was!
Reasons to watch the film
- HRITHIK ROSHAN – he’s outstanding.
- Action sequences
- Climax and title song during the close credits
Reasons to give the film a miss
- Weak directing – huge letdown
- Poor first half
- Film put together to showcase action, completely lacking in the story department
Rating: 
At the box office, the opening is earth-shattering all over. The film will have a good extended weekend at the box office, but the big question is, will it cross the 200 crore mark which it was expected to?
@Anand : Thumps up for your review. Too much fun !!!!!!!!!
I have liked the film in terms of actions, stunts and romance to an extent. But there should be more comedy, emotions and more contents!
@anand epic review bro thumbs up.
@anand babu
That review ROCKED and you must have impressed nipun kumar and the jaadoo kids n their guardians like babaji as they all got a special mention here…! Never laughed so hard… Awesome bro- tussi great ho
@navin lol, I accept. People think remake is a cakewalk. That’s the reason I said @nipun to eat his words. Lol.
@hamza, I agree ur points, but indicine shd have avoided personal attacks and just stick to the review. I hate when any actor or actress is personally insulted. They all have earned their place with lot of hard work.
Review shd talk about first the genre and whether it is hitting the target audience rightly, all of others can come later. When we go to a romance movie we don’t except hard hitting drama and hence keeping the review to the genre and its target audience in mind shd be a more appropriate way.
The reviewer is at fault as s/he brought personal bias, and indicine as site is not to be blamed, but they shd see into such things and employ more broad minded and open critic who gives honest opinion.
@Navin : Dont miss the climax scenes HR nostrils saved second time from an explosion amid an explosion in the plane. HR fans, only for humour no hatred though !!!!!!!!
@nipun kumar 3:51pm
What a cry baby- hypocritical manipulator- you now feeling sorry for makers oh please stop the nonsense- its not as entertaining movie as was expected and thats just tough luck… Audiences clearly differ from your crappy views n like movies that entertain them n dont care much for great vfx or high class action- a good old fashioned right hand to the baddies face is suffice sometimes…!
@JS 4:36pm
Lol
Yup Thats our double standards torch bearer nipun kumar for you and where nipun goes hypocrisy follows…! :-P
Watched noon show in 90% occupancy…audience were excited in beginning but as the movie progressed it became drag nd boring.those who are saying audience wom is possitive doesn’t seem true atleast for the show I was watching…overall movie is big letdown.biggest disappointment is Katrina and screenplay.hrithik is good in action scenes but his dialogue delivery is below average.kick was a bad film but has better second half.BB dissappoints….it might earn lot of money but in terms of good movie making its pathetic effort.after K3 Hrithik which was bad movie Hrithik again does a poor movie…plz do movies like znmd nd lakshya,dnt run after bo numbers…
Romance review: bang bang is worse than knight n day, bang bang have less sex scene, action scene compare to nite n day, poor act by katrina, hrtic did to much overacting althoug climax was good scene overwall bellow average. Sid Anand direction is weak . Story is average . Knight & Day is better than bang bang, i’m giving 1/2* n i think bang bang might failed to cross 100cr despite great opening
Well, Navin and all other guys, thanks for the appreciation of my review!!! That’s my honest feeling and review for Bang Bang. Though I don’t like to review films, I did that for a few hypocritical jadoo fans like nipun and babaji….They gave pretty bad reviews of Kick….
Well, we seven friends watched the film together!! That’s our contributions to the BO Earnings of the Hrithik’s film. Yet, some jaadoo fans will say we hate Hrithik….
Movie is good entertainer.
@JS, you rocked, dude!! You hit the nail right on the hypocrite nipun’s head. He has been always like that.
@Nipun, don’t talk about your so-called standard parameter. You will give 3.5+ to Bang Bang after watching it. I am sure!
I have asked a SRK fan of mine who has watched the film with me which film was better: Kick or Bang Bang. He said “honestly Kick was more entertaining.”
That’s why I don’t like to review films because the makers put a lot of money and hard work in them. you, wannabe critic, are the one that puts shitty review of the films all over!
So, you have to learn “What Goes Around Comes Around.”
Bang Bang was better than Kick in terms of only actions, nothing else. But that and in everything, Kick was 10 times better. Some SRK fans may say Bang Bang is better than Kick and D3. But they will never say it is better than CE.
@ Hatred New Year: I hope HNY, will be classic better than Tees Maar Khaan, Himmatwala, Joker & Janeman. Further, I wonder you are such a big Hrithik Fan that you see Bang Bang on 1st Day.
what did i told u???
its never in the history of cinema, that an original has been bombed and the remake been a hit!!still some fools are gonna book tickets. watch haider instead.
@Anand::I gave 3.5 to KICK..what else u want??? Sorry i can’t give 7 like u..u can see here–
http://www.indicine.com/movies/bollywood/kick-monday-collections-and-tuesday-update/comment-page-2/#comments
I cannot believe what critics want really black movie that they will watch once or highly action movie that has never been seen before what i know from now on pace of bollywood movie will change forever hr fans dont worry even your opponents like it they dont want to accept it because its to good
get a life rivals
First of all, it is an official remake of Knight & Day, so basic theme of the film is quite same, but they have twisted the script, it’s not scene to scene similar to Knight & Day, in fact only few scenes have been borrowed from Knight & Day like beach scene, sleeping drugs, and some dialogues. I found it about 70 % different than Knight & Day, despite of being an official remake.
Coming to Bang Bang, it is a story of Rajveer, who’s charming yet a mysterious man, who steals a historic and very expensive diamond, and Harleen who’s a simple girl, who’s life is not exciting at all according to his Daadi. So, to make her life exciting she decides to date a guy who she hasn’t even seen via a dating site. That’s where she meets Rajveer unexpectedly. There’s a roller coaster ride from there on. From firing to high octane chases to death defying stunts.
Throughout the film Rajveer’s true identity and motto/mission is kept as a secret and even Harleen finds it tough whether to trust him or not.
This will obviously not sound as a classic story, but suitable enough for an action flick.
Throughout the film, you will ask questions like, how did Rajveer steel the diamond from a tight security? What is his true identity? Why is he doing all those things? You will get all the answers towards the end, when they surprise you, I wouldn’t spoil it for you guys, watch it on theaters.
Coming to the performances, Hrithik is heart and sole of the film. He literally carries this film on his shoulders. He was perfect in his charming yet mysterious character. His expressions were perfect even during performing high octane, death defying actions. He was also at peak of his fitness.
Katrina is not known for her acting skills, and she was strictly average as expected. But, she looked very beautiful. But hey, even Hollywood actions flicks use leading actress as eye candy.
Rest of the characters don’t have big of a screen time to leave any lasting impact, most of the time was given to leading pair and action sequences. So, some people may not complain. I would have still liked to see more of the antagonist though. With that being said, all of them were pretty good in their respective limited appearances, including Jimmy Shergill in film’s opening scene, which set the tempo high for the film.
Cinematography was superb, they covered many of beautiful locations in the world.
Music was rocking as well. It was a treat to watch Tu Meri, Meherbaan, Bang Bang Title Track on big screen, although Uff could have been avoided. It did nothing good for the film unlike other songs.
Direction and screenplay were average, they tried to paint it by actions scenes which might have even worked with many audience. It wasn’t that bad considering its an action film, could have been better though.
The main USP of t he film, apart from Hrithik, were definitely the action scenes shown in it. It has almost everything you could ask in an action film. From hand-to-hand combat to guns, rifles, from car chases (including Formula 1 car) to flyboarding scene (first time ever in Holly/Bollywood), from jet skies to jet plance. It has everything. Director has put almost everything in this film to make it feel like a big budget action film. If you love action movies, then it’s a must watch for you.
With that being said, yes it is not perfect, it has some minor loopholes just like almost all the big films. Director tried to make it easy for Rajveer in terms of environment around him. He could have made it little more demanding and difficult for him like Die Hard 1. But, I guess that would be too much to ask from an Indian action film, which is supposed to be more cool and sleek than serious.
POSITIVES –
1. Hrithik Roshan in Dhoom 2 type of role
2. Action scenes (by far best for any Bollywood film, they pushed all the barriers)
3. Cinematography
4. Music, choreography
5. Chemistry between leading pair (comedy, romance, actions)
6. Adrenaline rush and surprise in climax
NEGATIVES –
1. Minor loopholes
2. Screenplay could have been better
3. Less screen time for main antagonist.
Rating – It depends on how you want to see it. If you want to see it as an action film and a film which provides you entertainment like Dhoom 3, Kick etc, then it does not deserve less than 4 stars, since Dhoom 3 and Kick both got 4 stars on Indicine, and action sequences are much better in Bang Bang (must watch for action movie lovers). And if you want to see content and a long lasting story, then I suggest you to watch Haider instead. It is a fast paced film, with tonnes of innovative actions consist of death defying stunts and high octane chases, high on chemistry between leading pair consist of comedy, romance and emotions. These type of films usually don’t excite critics. I have reviewed it as an audience, not critic. Reviews should be done according to the genre of the film. We can’t expect content like Queen, Wasseypur, Lunchbox, Guzaarish, Swadesh, etc from an action film. That’s what I have learnt from Indicine.
That’s why I’m surprised by Indicine’s review and rating. They used to think differently from other reviewers who thrash commercial films no matter what. Like, in case of many past blockbusters, they (Indicine) rated them 4 on the basis of entertainment value, not direction or screenplay. Don’t know why they were so critical this time with this review. My friends and I liked it for action sequences, its IMDb rating is also good so far. Not one of Hrithik’s best, but an entertaining action flick.
Negativity on social media
But audience is clapping and enjoying the movie
Time has changed now
Audience wants entertainment and bang is offering entertainment
I have tickets for tomorrow morning show
And its full already
Big Big letdown! The movie overall is just very slow paced to say the least. The movie is not that bad if one removes the exceptions and thriller genre tagged with it, but with it, the movie was way way lagging. The conversations were the deal breaker for me. They were too lengthy and got boring as the movie progressed. I was very disappointed because after watching the trailer of the movie, i was hoping for something out of the box but it did not happen. I will be very honest, I am a big hrithik roshan fan and this movie does have its highs in the action sequences which are just superb and best for bollywood, but the adrenaline rushing action sequences are totally spoiled by these conversations. But there is no doubt this movie is meant to be watched once in the theaters just for the magnanimous action which it offers!
If u compare it to kick and dhoom 3 then this one is definitely better. But I would rate it lower than these two just because I never expected Bang Bang to even remotely fall in their category. Being a Hrithik Roshan fan i hope it crosses 200 cr, although it hasn’t earned it, but that has been the case with kick, d3 and ce as well who don’t deserve to be in there either.
@anand babu
I would pay to read your review of Teesra Khans ‘6 Jokers Stuck In A Washing Machine’- now that would be a better entertaining read than Farahs movie no doubt…! Plz mull it over
can Someone clapp please because @anandwhatever has tried very hard to be fanny. u forget one dude even despite ur review Hrithik is far better actor than salman, in term of acting dancing and also shiverin. u feel better because u revenge with @nipun? or u are just a hrithik hater like @crapnew_yr and navin? p.s haters
just watched bang bang honestly speaking its hritiks worst movie after 2003
IMDB rating is 8.2 for this movie.
i went for haider bt didnt get ticket then go for bang bang and honestly i was shocked there is no one out there i got ticket very easily. when i watched the movie then cum to know the reasion.
Bang Bang turned out the biggest disappointment of the year as far as the hype and critics review so far, I am not hrithik hater but also not his fan too.
I don’t know why Indicine is attacked by fans as almost every critic given below rating, the avg rating on Indicine meter is 40/100 way below than d3-64/100 and k3 61/100 and also low than CE and Kick, Where is Nipun and other fans who always targeting other actor film By their review. @nipun Rajeev masand 2/5 and anupama 2.5/5 and now please don’t say after watching bang-2 than its a better film than d3 as you judged film on these 2-3 critics as how the movie is.
@babaji illogic thing is satisfying for you while reviewing bang-2, but for D3 you don’t liked as it was illogical so Dhoom 3 2/5 for you and bang-2 4/5 as the film has hrithik. I respect your opinion but I always against double standard of fans who always want logic in other film but not their idols, so please when you don’t like a film review the reason but not logics as masala action films aren’t for logic.
And I also think movie is let down for audience as I didn’t find most of loyal hr fans who are on sky7 for till yesterday but not reviewing now.
Waiting for Rohit’s take. I hope he will give genuine rating.
For me Bang-2 wasn’t a film to watch out this year but from teaser and songs I made my mind to watch film in theatre but the day when trailer released one week ago I understood that the film is not for me that s why when today my friend asked me to watch film on evening show I refused,and I think I am not wrong.
Now HNY is definitely unaffected from Bang-2 from now,mean while Haider got great reviews, let’s see how the things turned out for both film tomorrow.
watched it one of the crappiest movie so far overacting,unbielivable actions,torture of katrina,s acting evrn hr was doing so overacting crap story overall 0.5/5.it will flop sure shot.
i have watched Bang Bang in evening show at Inox!!and it was full packed like other shows!!awsmmmm entertaining film…………HR was superb,Mind-Blowing,Mind-Blasting……….but i am, surprised to see that Kat has improved a lot!!but Indicine suddenly has discovered that She can’t act!!lol…great Indicine;great!!to me Kat has acted adequately in BB!!and Direction was good too if not better!!rest technical part seems grand to me;and i think to most of the Audiences present in the Hall too!!so i will give 3.5 star to BB…Go and Enjoy The Biggest Action Film of Bollywood till date!!u will not b disappointed if u r not changed suddenly to a film critic for a particular film………Best of Luck Indicine!!Love You HR forever………..let’s see where the b.o. collection goes!!