Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is another film glorifying the local criminal of the Hindi belt. That they don’t work is a fact, though it fails to deter more such makers. What is worse, the makers don’t care about the time period when the film was based. It jumps at will from 1970s when Kishore Kumar songs ruled the roost on the radio to mobile phone era.

The babumoshai, a Bengali term of respect while addressing someone, will always remain a mystery in the title of the film which is based in UP!

The character of Nawazuddin Siddiqui is a sharpshooter, a supari killer, somewhere in UP working for a woman politician, played by Divya Dutta, spewing paan spit and foul words as her trademark. She assigns him to eliminate her detractors as and when required. Nawazuddin kills people at will, roams around freely in town and walks off to his hidden, far away abode. It seems, he makes it a point to kill his targets when witnesses are around.

While Divya assigns killings to Nawazuddin, her two henchmen envy him. So, there are perpetual undercurrents of backstabbing and betrayals.

Made to change sides, now Nawazuddin is engaged by another politician, a rival to Divya. Meanwhile, Nawazuddin has met and fallen in love with the character of Bidita Das, who mends footwear but is never shy of using her instruments of trade on men who act funny. Bidita and Nawazuddin hit it off and a sex affair starts (no, it is not a love affair).

You realize that Nawazuddin is a legend in his field when he comes across his fan claiming to be his disciple, Jatin Goswami, who has turned into a shooter inspired by the stories of Nawazuddin’s exploits. Now, there are multiple angles. You don’t know who are the friends and who are the enemies. Killings take place as a sport. Everybody is betraying the other at whim.

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is a hackneyed film with no head or tail. It does not even have a single theme. Somebody points a gun, at times pulls a trigger and does not at other times! It tries to vend some ‘steamy’ kissing scenes and sex, as if they were just invented, to poor effect. Also, the film may be about sharpshooters but the bullets they spray rarely ever hit the target!

The film lacks on scripting, has poor direction and is a let down on all counts. Nawazuddin has an ill-defined role and he only seems to be in a hurry to end his newfound success, with this film coming soon after Munna Michael, where he did a role not meant for him. Bidita Das can’t act. Divya Dutta and the rest are ineffective.

Babumoshai Bandookbaaz is a sham of a movie.

Producers: Kiran Shyam Shroff, Ashmith Kunder, Kushan Nandy.

Director: Kushan Nandy.

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bidita Das, Divya Dutta, Jatin Goswami, Murli Sharma and Anil George.