Besharam Review: Ranbir Kapoor

After delivering one of the biggest Blockbusters of all time in the form of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, the youngest Superstar of Bollywood, Ranbir Kapoor is back in Besharam. The trailers, and the buzz have been underwhelming so far with people expecting a lot more from this Abhinav Kashyap directed film. The buzz has certainly picked up recently with the promotions getting into fifth gear and Ranbir Kapoor is now hoping audiences will be pleasantly surprised by Besharam. So is it surprising? If so, is it surprising in a pleasant manner? Let’s find out.

Story and Screenplay: Besharam revolves around an orphan drifter called Babli (Ranbir Kapoor) who lives in Delhi and is a car thief who swindles people posing as a mechanic. He is a swindler because he wants to help the orphanage he grew up in. He is quite shameless (as the title implies) in the way he goes about it. He thinks there is always a right way to do the wrong thing. But things take a turn for the amusing and oddly baffling in his life when he hurts his lady love (Pallavi Sharda). Things get even funnier when two Haryanvi cops Chulbul Chautala and Bulbul Chautala (Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor) go on an hunt to chase him. The story becomes even more convoluted when the villain of the film (Javed Jaffrey) is introduced as a comic sadist. Films like Besharam don’t have a Bible-sized script and we don’t expect one either. To know what eventually happens, go watch the film in the theatres!

Besharam
Besharam Movie Review

Direction: Much was expected from Abhinav Kashyap because he was the man behind one of the best entertainers of recent times – Dabangg. But alas! Abhinav Kashyao sorely disappoints in all aspects of the film he is a part of. The script was supposed to be funny but the humour was nowhere to be seen or heard. The film’s pace kept lagging throughout the first half and even a surprising climax couldn’t save the film from drowning into unamusing delirium. Besharam could have done with a more compact script and the flow of the film should have been swifter. The blame for this must rest on the shoulders of Abhinav Kashyap. Besharam turns out to be an all out disappointment because of him.

The other creative aspects of Besharam can’t redeem it either. The editing works but the film doesn’t benefit from the editing. The art direction manages to catch our eyes with two songs shot in picturesque locations across North India. The costume design is outrageous but works well with the overall theme of the film. Ranbir Kapoor looks like a scrawny street smart guy and the costume design plays a major part in establishing this important ingredient of the film.

Music: Lalit Pandit has lost his mojo in recent times. Entrusted with the task of such a major film, he underwhelms with the songs. Most of the songs fail to make a mark with only the title song having chartbuster elements attached to it. All said and done, Lalit Pandit should have given a much better soundtrack in Besharam.

Performances: Ranbir Kapoor is the heart and soul of the film as his Babli is in almost every frame. He hams it up probably for the first time in his career but given the fact that he was required to play a character like this, he does reasonably well even when he is hamming it up. Rishi Kapoor is amazing as always. His Haryanvi accent is spot on. Neetu Kapoor is also a laugh riot in some of her scenes with Rishi Kapoor. The Kapoor trio deserved a better film because their talent is wasted in this drab of a film. Pallavi Sharda thankfully doesn’t just play the part of an eye-candy. She has genuine acting credentials and it will be interesting to see what she does in her next few films. Javed Jaffri is hilarious as the funny baddie as he imbibes shades of comedy and evilness in his performance without ever going overboard.

Conclusion: The trailers of Besharam disappointed a majority of the audience and the film doesn’t surprise us, unlike what Ranbir Kapoor was hoping for. It is overlong and unfunny and Ranbir Kapoor shows he can also ham it up if need be. Besharam could have done away with the lazy writing and the conceptualisation of the set-pieces could have done with a lot more imagination. Besharam disappoints and how!

Box Office: Besharam will have a huge opening day thanks to the star power of Ranbir Kapoor and the national holiday in the form of Gandhi Jayanti. But I expect the film to see major drops from second day onwards. The 130 crore mark looks like the upper ceiling for Besharam. If the response is too negative and the falls are huge, Besharam might even struggle to get to the 100 crore mark. There’s only so much Ranbir’s goodwill can get the makers.

Positives:

  • Ranbir Kapoor’s hammy performance suits the character
  • Costume Design
  • Pallavi Sharda’s confident act and Javed Jaffrey’s funny performance make the film watchable

Negatives:

  • The slow and unfunny screenplay
  • The direction is messy
  • The music is the worst ever for a Ranbir Kapoor film
  • Outlandish set-pieces
  • Laggy moments slow down the flow

Rating: ★½☆☆☆

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42 Comments

  • Ready, ra.one, SOS, Rowdy rathore, housefull 2, and Chennai express all got negative reviews from critics, but what matters is the good response of audience. Hope Besharam finds that, if not even ranbir’s star power won’t be enough to save the film.
    Anyway Good luck Ranbir..

  • Abhinav Kashyap wanted to recreate the Magic of Chulbul Pandey by making a character like Bubly,but didnt work enough on script.He forgot that Ranbir is no Salman.
    Anyways,Ranbir is big star now,Flop to aate jate rahengey

  • Thanks god a lot!I have bored of hearing and watching Ranbir Kapoor!
    Ranbir is totally fucking media generated star but I respect him a lot as an actor!!

  • Movie is much much better then Ghajini, 3idiots and talaash…Ranbir is way way way better actor then Aamir khan………….God bless him…Movie will be blockbuster and do 200cr…….because People are just loving it.

  • Expecting a lot from movie bt totally disappointed after watching this crapiest movie ranbir done overacting in the movie so jst left the movie in the midway

  • 1.5 ?lol. .seems like crap. .
    @indicine:can you tell which are the top5 movies of the year based upon critics.?

  • Dabangg worked completely on Salman’s Star Power nd nt becoz of Abhinav Kashyap……

    Feeling bad for RK….but Abhinav Kashyap Deserves this…..ab uske Bade Bhai ko Bhi Akal aayegi…. jo Usne Dabangg k time pe bola tha….Anurag Kashyap tere Bhai ki Life Salman Khan ne hi Banayi thi jo tere Bhai ne ‘BESHARAM’ Banke barbad kardi….

    Ehsaan Fara mosh

  • Poorly rated movie for Ranbir after long time. Waiting to know how the word of mouth would be. I’m not sure about this movies outcome at the end because even Ranbir himself doesn’t seem to be contented and confident about the movie;according to what he had spoke about it recently to media. Anyway I hope it’ll be another hit for Ranbir. Good luck!-Think Besharam needs it a lot now. :-)

  • @nipun – In my opinion, it’s (in no particular order) –

    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
    The Lunchbox
    Kai Po Che!
    Madras Cafe
    Lootera/Raanjhanaa

  • @Khan kapoor ranbir is not srk or salmam that his movie have a great collection even if the people dislike the movie or didn,t have great reviews ,aamir,hrithik didn,t have star power or fans like srk and salman but their movies work when have strong word of mouth ranbir didn,t have 25% of fans of salman or srk but his movies work due to good word of mouth or if people Like it in his movies b.o collection his fans contribution is just 25% in it even if shahid kapoor start doing good movies his fans and b.o collection will increase And besharm is not half funny then ce it,s script is even not better then ce it,s not entertiner like ce and it,s not even 20% of dabbang and i want to say you there are only two real superstars and they are srk and salman understand and ce reviews were mixed not negative and i want to say that b-town didn,t need these kind of movies it need movies like:lootera,kai po che,bmb,raam leela,hny,krish3,dhoom3 i mean different movies even i didn,t know about hny,krrish3,dhoom3 and raam leela but they are differen speacialy hny because it,s heist meets musicule which is never have been done in b-town i was thinking that young generation will do different but srk,hrithik and aamir upcoming movies are Different Only actor in new stars who is doing different is ranveer singh understand.

  • I am big fan of Ranbir and it was more disappointing for me than Ranbir. The film is really very boring and it’s unbelievable and surprising to see Ranbir sign such film. He should not work with this Director again or do this kind of film in future. It was a wate of money and time on a HOLIDAY.

  • Poor selection of a script by Ranbir. I fully agree with the review. Screenplay was really slow, and lacked good comic scenes/dialogues. Music wasn’t well received before the release, but it really made an impact on the movie, a negative impact. Some of the worst Ranbir songs, and the problem was, there were too many of them. Although, Ranbir is a great actor, but I felt like he overacted in some scenes, mainly because of the genre of the movie. Almost everyone acted well, but it lacked a good script. 25 crore opening is possible, but if it crashes out tomorrow (working-day), then it would be hard for it to cross 100 crores. Movies like CE and YJHD did collect huge despite of being mixed WOM, but they had some positives in them as well unlike ‘Besharam’. I think, 150 crore is out of reach, at least in my opinion.

    • @Rohit, good short review. Looking at the response that the film has got, even 100 crore could be an uphill task if it starts dropping from tomorrow. There is nothing quite like negative word-of-mouth publicity.

  • lol lol lol where are the so called ranbir fans who called him the superstar hahaha especially his female fans like anupama,meghnani,riya,joya etc hahaha very sad for his female fans :P

    FLOP DISASTER i had said you !!!!!

    october mein bas BOSS, jab boss ka khoon khaulta hai toh boss ek ek ko fodta hai !

    waiting for boss,krrish 3 and bullett raja.

  • ranbir is no superstar, he is media created superstar, YJHD got hit solely due to music,deepika jodi, huge screen release,summer vacation, not because of ranbir’s stardom.

  • If Mahatma knew that Gandhi Jayanti
    Holiday will be used in releasing
    movies like Besharam, he would had
    stayed back in South Africa only.

  • i told it during YJHD time that ranbir’s true test will start from besharam.. dont forget YJHD was a well made movie with excellent word of mouth, superhit chartbuster music, deepika ranbir pairing, post IPL release, summer vacations, no competition, open weeks.. but people were in a hurry to call him no.1 n superstar.. m so glad the truth is out.. i told everyone ranbir’s true test will start now and he has failed miserably.. so plz hold ur guns before u call him a superstar or no.1.. it was so immature n foolish of people to claim it.. it takes 25 years of hard work, constant n huge fan following like salman n srk to get the tag of superstar.. so i request the media n indicine to not to give the tag of superstar to anybody so easily.. just one hit film n u guys make anybody a superstar.. i remember in ur articles a few months back calling emraan hashmi a superstar.. plz for god’s sake.. in that case even aditya roy kapoor is a superstar..

  • @nipun – It was definitely one of the best critically acclaimed movies of 2013. I didn’t place them in any order, it would be too difficult to rank them. I got 6 names in my mind, so I placed them randomly according to my memory.

  • one good news for all Hrithik fans nd Krrish3 fans Krrish 3 will b realsd on 4000 screens in india nd 1200 screens in overcease…its the biggest realse of any bollywood movie in india nd overcse…

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