Bobby Jasoos (2014)

One of my all time favorites.

A Major Disappointment

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Vidya Balan starrer Bobby Jasoos is an attempted comedy-cum-drama. Set in Hyderabad, Bobby is an aspiring and struggling detective without any education qualification and managing to investigate few love affairs in her neighborhood. She pursues her jasoosi career much to the disapproval of her Muslim family. The story is centered around Bobby getting hired by Khan (Kiran Kumar) to find 3 people based on age, name and birth marks, for which Bobby gets paid heavily. Bobby is helped by 2 amusing companions who keep the comic theme running in the movie. Subsequently, Bobby finds out that she is part of a larger conspiracy plotted by Khan to kidnap the missing people. Bobby gets involved in unearthing Khan's motives, mired with her personal problems of family's disapproval and wedding arrangement.The movie begins on interesting caricatures where Vidya Balan takes the lead, but gradually the movie becomes a lackluster. Vidya Balan has played her part wonderfully well, however the film is neither thrilling nor comic, and to top it up ends up on a melodramatic note. Shot extensively in Hyderabad, the movie has a very local background-setting. Music is all over the film and in very bad shape. Wish the directorial debut of Samar Shaikh could have been a better piece of work!

Ever since she burst on the screen in Parineeta, bearing a smile as radiant as the sun, it was evident that Vidya Balan was not your everyday Bollywood heroine. Her wardrobe may never have been spot on, and her weight might have been on the heavier side, but bucket loads of talent ensured that for author backed, strong female characters, she was the undisputed choice. The Dirty Picture proved it, and Kahaani guaranteed it. No surprises then, for a character as unique as Bobby in Bobby Jasoos, the choice of Balan was a no-brainer. But can she make any movie great? No.Bobby Jasoos is the story of Bilkis "Bobby" Ahmed, a Hyderabadi aspiring to be a detective. Bobby is smart, talented and driven, and for the lack of opportunities- she spends most of her time solving trivial neighborhood cases in Mughalpura, Hyderabad. But her choice of career has its downsides. Her orthodox father does not speak with her, and there is a perennial cash flow problem. Well, at least till she chances upon Anis Khan (Kiran Kumar), who puts her on a well-paying, missing persons case. The rest of the plot focuses on Bobby solving this case, and also sorting out her love life. The good is mostly centered around the acting. Balan with her authentic Hyderabadi accent, colorful kurtas and bubbly charm almost pulls it off single handedly. Ali Fazal as her reluctant lover/friend is an excellent foil to the enthusiastic Bobby. The support cast consisting of Rajendra Gupta, Supriya Pathak, Tanvi Azmi, and Arjan Bajwa are good too. The bad is the script- it is just not funny enough. Bobby Jasoos has an interesting start, a decent middle but an absolutely pointless Manmohan Desai style ending. Patchy screenplay, boring songs, forced melodrama further pull the film down. The character of Bobby Jasoos has shades of Veronica Mars? Bingo. And I feel this would be a great idea for a TV serial, of course, if only they could get Vidya in the small screen. Advice for debutant director Samar Sheikh - There is more to sleuthing that disguises. 5/10

"Bobby Jasoos" is a comedy-suspense-drama that centers around Bilkis "Bobby" Ahmed(Vidya Balan), a late-20-something girl of a lower-middle class family who aspires to be a professional private detective. She faces several personal and professional hurdles in her endeavour, and thus, continues to fight her way through with the help of her friends – an internet cafe owner, a coffee house waiter and a TV crime- reporter(Ali Fazal). Bobby strike something big when a mystic middle- aged wealthy NRI(Kiran Kumar) turns up on her doorstep to figure the whereabouts of some individuals with just their names and physical identities, whom she does discover from nothing after much articulate labour and earns fat paychecks in return. However, Bobby senses something sinister all over. Would she be able to discover the truth about the man and his investigations? As one could spot, the film is pretty much straight and has very minimal level of plot-suspense to present. Its an age-old remedy that is given a new avatar and a new packaging.PLUSES- Balan is the backbone of the film, as simple as that. She has a tom- boyish charm and anger in her persona therefore, she plays through different disguises ably and effortlessly. Fazl is highly effective as the patro-phobic young man who is trying to shy away from all marriage proposals coming his way and strikes a friendship with Bobby as she is doing her job to find faults in his proposals. Other castings are good, too, however no one gets enough screen-time to be more than meager supporting-characters with the exception of Kiran Kumar. Make-up and Costume Design play a significant role throughout and give a film a stage-performance kind of touch at places. Also, the film's duration is less - a little more than 2 hours – i.e. before the film could actually become boring for some.MINUSES- There is definite lack of screenplay-work and which is the reason that there is no certain sequencing or flow of events in the film. This is the reason that in the first-half viewers don't enjoy it as much because they were always trying to find something to hold on to. Being Dia Mirza's debut production, there were not much expectations either. Although the direction (Samar Shaikh) did try hard but failed to hold the film compactly. The music(Shantanu Moitra) is unfortunately totally forgettable and the song sequences are not at all worth watching – with the exception of "Tu".VERDICT- Bobby Jasoos is an average-level film it offers nothing extraordinary. Still it's full of simple-ordinary stuff which makes it a light watch. Likable because of Balan, and any of her ardent admirer would rather find it much enjoyable than others. Watch if you really must - a 6/10.

Bobby Jasoos, a film by Samar Shaikh, could have been another Vidya Balan hit with the very novel concept of a female detective, a very unconventional profession for a female to be in, but something is amiss which hasn't worked in its favour. Post 'The Dirty Picture' and 'Kahaani', Vidya Balan has set her own benchmarking level of performance quite high. Her 'Ghanchakkar' was super flop, and 'Shaadi ke Side Effects' could do only decent business. Bobby Jasoos probably faltered as far as the script is concerned; otherwise, its concept had all the elements of another blockbuster in Vidya's kitty. But yes, it is a movie, which prompts us to pursue our dreams irrespective of challenges. Bilkis Ahmed aka Bobby (Vidya Balan) is so passionate about proving her mettle as a detective against the wishes of her family. Only her mother Zebo (Supriya Pathak) supports her whereas father (Rajendra Gupta) and others at home are dead against her detective job. Her father has a conservative approach and he feels that the house shall not be run with the girl's earning. He also feels that Bobby is a disgrace to the family due to her profession. Zebo does bring smile to our face while she tries to defend Bobby and her detective activities.Bobby keeps trying her luck at G-Force detective agency in spite of facing rejections from the agency again and again. She starts her own detective agency after challenging the agency. She handles insipid cases like worried parents, suspicious spouses etc. A tea shop person Munna (Aakash Dahiya) does help her to get clients. She dons variety of looks viz. that of a beggar, palmist, bangle-seller, astrologer, peon, a TV producer etc. as part of her solving cases effortlessly. She approaches every case on the basis of her intuition and gut feeling and chooses strange paths to crack the same. Her familiarity with the streets of Mughalpura Mohalla of old Hyderabad fetches her a strange case from Anees Khan (Kiran Kumar) to find out two missing young girls with strange birthmarks, followed by search for a guy as well. She is paid hefty amount. Anees just wants Bobby to do her job without raising any question about his motive in looking out for these missing people. Bobby goes ahead following her mind and heart, but then, she starts doubting the motive of Anees behind his search for the girls. The story moves ahead from there. Indeed, suspense is maintained till the very end. Shetty (Prasad Barve), Munna, Sohail (Tejas Mahajan) act as perfect aides of Bobby Jasoos. They do add lot of comic elements to the plot. Ali Fazal as a TV anchor Tassavur Shaikh has given a very sweet performance. He is ambitious and does not want to settle down with girls of Mughalpura. And to escape from the marriage proposals brought to him by his father (Vinay Varma), he takes the help from Bobby to explore some stories about them so that he could conveniently deny those proposals. It is interesting to see Bobby and Tassavur together and how their relationship goes to the next level. There is a nice scene, where Bobby is guiding Tassavur over speaker/earphone set to speak to his father in regard to his disapproval to marry Bobby. Bobby's sister Noor (Benaf Dadachandji), Kausar Khaala (Tanvi Azmi) and Zarina Wahab as Afreen's (Afreen is Lala's love interest) Ammi have also added value to the movie through their presence. What events unfold in the lives of Bobby Jasoos? Lala (Arjan Bajwa) as a local gunda plays a significant part in the movie and what is that? Does Ali and Bobby come together? What is the motive of Anees Khan? How does Bobby explore the same? Is Bobby able to win her father's approval and love?Cinematographer Vishal Sinha has captured the hustle-bustle of Hyderabad, Charminar, the very aroma of Biriyani also very nicely. Hyderabad is reflected well through Bobby's accent. Vidya has really worked upon her Hyderabadi accent.