Benny And Babloo (2010)

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Yunus Sajawal makes an interesting directorial debut with the dramedy 'Benny and Babloo'. It starts off with the title characters working together at a teahouse which is suddenly shut down. Luckily, Benny (Kay Kay Menon) finds employment as a bellhop at the Mirage hotel while Babloo (Rajpal Yadav) finds work as a waiter in a local beerbar. Benny is immensely proud of his job while he pokes fun at Babloo for working at a sleazy place. Eventually, he realizes that Babloo has a more dignified job and more reason to be proud of than him.The comedic sequences work wonderfully. The first quarter hour made me laugh as did the comic relief in between. However, most of the more intense scenes felt melodramatic. For example, the scenes depicting corruption at Mirage hotel felt forced and staged (the acting and dialogues were bad). It was like watching a scene from 'Page 3'. Many of the subplots felt rushed (like the Riya Sen track) and poorly developed.The execution is passable. Most of the songs are well-set in the background and they're pleasant to the ears. The actors have good chemistry. Kay Kay Menon and Rajpal Yadav are a delight to watch. Not only are they convincing as best friends, but they bring a certain humbleness and naivety that makes these common men easy to relate to. Aashif Sheikh is brilliant as the hotel manager. Of the actresses, Richa Chadda steals the show as the streetsmart bargirl. Anita Hassandani is decent and Rukhsar is very good (except in the scenes where she's required to be emotional where she's slightly melodramatic). Riya Sen is passable at best.It's interesting how Sajawal draws parallel between a five star hotel and a beer bar. He implies that even a beer bar can have more dignity than a 5 star hotel where corruption has become a way of living. If only he had tightened the writing and shown more development, this would have been a real treat to watch. Yet, 'Benny and Babloo' is far from being a bad film. I'd say it's at least worth a one-time watch. Menon and Yadav are great.

Compared to some of the off-late breed of gaudy-Hindi-comedy-blockbusters, Benny&Babloo is a pretty decent attempt and especially easy-going on our audio-visual senses. Though, be aware that comparing it to movies like Page3 & Chandni-Bar can make a mockery of this movie. Yes I agree, Direction could have been better, but a glance at the central-characters (Benny&Babloo) will reveal that makers aren't much after Madhur-Bhandarkarism and rather are trying to enact or pay tribute to another elite-class of Hindi-cinema of which 'Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron' is symbolic.Story begins with Benny (Kay Kay) and Babloo (Rajpal Yadav) both losing their waiter jobs. But soon Benny finds employment as a bellboy in a 5-star-hotel while Babloo ends up as a waiter in a dance-bar. Soon Benny starts thinking highly of his mode-of-earning compared to that of his friend Babloo's. But as the movie progresses, Life turns out to be a great leveler and Benny gets to witness the murky reality of the upper-class thus shattering his superiority complex.Rajpal-Yadav does a good-job where as Kay-Kay could do more. Most of the supporting cast including Rukhsar, Shweta Tiwari etc have done well, yet they could have been handled better.Music is not worth a mention.There is nothing special about the role portrayed by Rukhsar. Especially, there is no truth whatsoever to the pre-release-rumors, comparisons between this role in B&B and Tabu's role of Chandni Bar. Tabu's was a class act. May be next time, Rukhsar!Perhaps! Sad-ending would more suit the critics-choice, but I believe it is the prerogative of the maker.All in all, this movie is certainly a 1 time watch and I would rate it 6 on scale-10.

Actors like Kay Kay Menon and Rajpal Yadav and the theme of juxtaposition of a dance bar and a large 5 star hotel might raise expectation from this movie. Here the story alternates between events which happen in the 5 star hotel where Kay Kay works as a bellboy and the dance bar where Rajpal Yadav is working as a waiter. Some of these events are intended to leave one introspecting about the society and hypocrisy within it at large. As said earlier, the theme and story had potential, specially with the ensemble of actors gotten together for the movie. Unfortunately the overall treatment is not very smoothly done. Rajpal Yadav and Shweta Tiwari (who actually looked quite good in the movie) did decent work, but Kay Kay and the rest of the cast did not really impress much. There are some good scenes in the movie, but they feel like being pinched from some of the earlier movies on similar themes (e.g. Page 3). The movie is a bit clichéd and a somewhat feel-good ending was kind of forced into the end. The direction and editing had room for improvement. Overall, the movie is OK for watching if you don't have anything else to do, or if you are new to alternative Indian cinema (because the cliché and repetitions won't rankle).

Using "Benny and Babloo" the movie attempts to depict the sham around us. Two worlds - a magnificent outside but murky inside and the other, other way around. A posh five star hotel versus a ladies dance bar encompassing various lives and people into it. ۝ Kay Kay:: Perhaps the worst performance from him till date. Fans of Kay Kay are urged to stay away. Completely miscast or probably (for the first time) didn't get it quite right. ۝ Rajpal Yadav:: A tailor-made role for him and practically he sleep- walks in the role of Babloo.۝ Rukhsar:: Has a good screen-presence and some good lines.۝ Riya Sen:: Her segment attempts to explain the law of karma. Her performance could have been better.۝ Shweta Tiwari:: The queen of small screen. Not enough screen time for her character to leave an impression.۝ Anita Hassanandani:: Appears fake.۝ Aasif Sheikh:: Loud۝ Hiten Paintal:: The role is glorified special appearance.Having too many sub-plots works against the flow of the narrative and a couple of them either not fleshed out properly or don't reach a logical conclusion. The basic premise of glorifying ladies dance bar is slightly past-sell-by-date. Instead of giving a balanced view of both sides, the plot attempts to be judgemental which makes the proceedings drift away from reality. Taut writing could have transformed it into likes of "Page 3"