Bhaiaji Superhit review: This Sunny Deol-starrer is the exact opposite of its title

A recent study linked an interest in trashy and horrible movies with high intelligence. By that measure, Bhaiaji Superhit is a film for scientists who will redefine the time-space continuum. Sadly, the survey makes no mention of the super-human levels of endurance required to survive such films. With no disrespect to the late Stephen Hawking, a viewing of the film leaves one questioning the movement of time and the purpose of one's own existence. Directed by Neerraj Pathak, the film might just prove to be another downward spiral of the falling star of Sunny Deol.

The story is a fairly simple one of a suspecting wife, Sapna Dubey (Preity Zinta) and her gangster husband, Devi Dayal Dubey aka 3D Bhaiaji (Sunny Deol), and how they finally overcome their suspicions. Everything else is cooked up to make the film entertaining. Or at least, that is what we presume was the intention.

The film's core lies in the idea Bhaiaji gets to make himself popular. He wants to make and star in a film to woo his lady love back. However, he picks a con director, Goldie Kapoor (Arshad Warsi), to do the job. Kapoor puts up a team of a seductress (Ameesha Patel) and an out of luck writer (Shreyas Talpade) to get the so-called film on the floor, while he keeps milking the cash cow of Bhaiaji.

All of these elements are thrown in, without a second thought for plot, or continuity to ensure that the film rolls on. At one point, Warsi's sneaky Goldie Kapoor says that he makes films to get money from his producer, and his audience. Your reviewer almost stood up to applaud the honesty that was reflected in the inside joke.

To be fair, the characters are not all bad. Some of them are quite funny. But the skewed plot structure and screenplay ensure that none of the jokes manage to land. Any interest in the characters fade away as soon as the story progresses.

Deol as the wall-breaking, table-tossing don from Uttar Pradesh is a sad parody of himself. The actor seems to have slipped into a caricature that comedians on television often portray him as. Even the intensity and raw ferocity that would define his action sequences seem missing in this film. If that were not enough, Pathak throws in a double role for the star. The second role, an actor named Funny Singh, is even more self-parodying. With an incredibly high pitch and wooden movement, the actor is an embodiment of everything that is wrong with the film.

Preity Zinta is another artiste who seems badly cast in the role of a Bihari gangster wife, Sapna Dubey. The actress gamely tries to make the most of her role, but sadly it is too complex a task. She shares the same fate of Shreyas Talpade, whose over the top Bengali writer is almost pitiful.

Even Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi are reduced to roles which have no meaning or purpose in the eventual plot. Tripathi though has one particularly funny scene where he pleads with Bhaiaji while reciting the lines of Bryan Adams 'Please Forgive Me'.  

The only artiste who manages something out of this fiasco is Arshad Warsi. The actor's natural sense of humor and comic timing ensures there are some laughs in the film.

Jaideep Ahlawat is another actor who feels a natural fit to the character and brings some poise even in the most trying scenes. At one point during the climax, the character suddenly grows a full beard that is jarring to its continuity. But, we shall mark it down to the long delays that the film has gone through.

Performances aside, the film also makes a barely likable caricature out of the language and culture of Uttar Pradesh. It is particularly visible in the speech and dialogues of Sunny Deol and Preity Zinta's characters and feels jarring.

In all, the film is an example of why Sunny Deol needs to rethink his script choices.