Last year we saw one of the most fabled franchises of all time have a spinoff of its own – away from the main storyline and in its own style and presentation. We are of course, talking about Star Wars and Rogue One. Why are we talking about it in the first place? Its because Naam Shabana is a similar attempt with it being a spin off from the movie Baby. Yes, you heard me right – movie, not franchise. But such as it is, we have Naam Shabana and to make matters worse, it doesn’t even do the few things that Baby got at least somewhat right. As you would’ve probably guessed, by now, am no fan of Baby either.
Naam Shabana starts off slow and becomes slower. For a thriller, that’s certainly not a great start. After having seen MS Dhoni, I am pretty sure this one too has the mark of Neeraj Pandey in a lot of places. For, it is only Neeraj Pandey who believes, that every frame, every shot that he takes is vintage stuff – whether its MS Dhoni’s ride back home or its Shabana’s daily routine – that adds nothing to the plot whatsoever. What could’ve been shown as an initial set up ends up taking all of the first half with no thrills at all.
The second half pretty much picks up where Baby left off – and I am not referring to the shameless copy of Argo that it did. I meant more in its styling – heavy background score and slow motion action even in places where you don’t need the dramatic effect. The team coming together is a bit of a pleasant surprise but the fun is missing. This wasn’t a very ‘fun’ team to begin with and the comic relief is very sporadic.To make matters worse the movie is predictable to a fault and there is nothing that will surprise or jolt you. How is this a thriller again?….
If the movie works somewhat its primarily due to Taapsee Pannu’s sincere efforts and the glimpses that you get of Akshay Kumar, the veteran, at work. No one does action better than this guy and the action in the movie is hard hitting and realistic. That aspect though is a bit of a misfit in a script that coolly ignores holes that will have you scoffing at the proceedings pretty regularly. Manoj Bajpayee is wasted in a role that has him do nothing more than speak on the phone at all times.
Baby was a brave movie, despite its faults. It needed a sequel or two before one thought of making origin stories and spinoff franchises. Even if this was a spinoff that talked of how the entire team came together, it may have still packed a punch. However, as it stands, Naam Shabana at close to 2 and a half hours of runtime, becomes a painstakingly long watch, with hardly any thrills to be had. Unless you are a huge fan of Baby (for reasons unbeknownst to me), I wouldn’t recommend an outing for this one.
