Review: BANK CHOR

You Facepalm And You Facepalm then Credits Roll.

Directed By Bumpy, It Says. Facepalm Once More.

1 star

Mini Review:

Three silly lads attempt to rob a bank and end up in the middle of a real bank robbery. There are cops, and the media and a brash CBI team trying to stop the robbery outside, and hostages, the silly lads and the real bad guys inside. Then there are politicians plotting something else outside. If the one line premise had not been stretched so long and stayed focused on comedy, this film could have been a hoot. Isn’t.

Main Review:

Someone who’s not old enough to curse in Hindi but sees the phonetic similarity between the word and the title of the film is to blame for the stupidity that lasts for two hours.

Champak Chiplunkar, Genda and Gulaab are three silly lads, attempting to loot a bank. Ritesh Deshmukh as Champak Chiplunkar starts out to being funny. A robber dressed up as a babaji, but really someone who believes in numerology and Vaastu could be fun. Genda and Gulaab are Delhi lads who make the perfect for Delhi Lads jokes found aplenty on Whatsapp. Trouble with this film is that Whatsapp jokes are widely circulated and they are completely unfunny when acted out. The casting is good, but the direction is rough and bumpy. You can see the joke set up a mile away. Perhaps that’s why the director is listed as ‘Bumpy’ and that does not sound like a real name at all.

However, the bumbling thieves - looking for a WiFi button press the alarm at the bank - invite the attention of CBI special branch agent called Amjad Khan (Vivek Oberoi with a moustache). Apart from the very obvious, ‘Kitne Aadmi Thay?’ not a single joke is cracked, using the Sholay reference, is cracked.

The hostages, the media and the cops (one of them has a serious Atul Kulkarni hangover) have no jokes and are serious in their dealings. Would have been fun to hear a microphone thrust into a cop’s face and reporter ask: There is a bank robbery in progress, how do you feel?

Yes, the cops in the jeep are all eating vada paos, and that is clever. But the rest of the movie just is exhausting. There is attempt at comedy between Bombay and Delhi, but you’ve heard those before. Especially the ‘yo mama’ jokes about yo mama is so frugal she puts water in the shampoo bottles to get that last bit of soap out… are now stale even if they are applied to Delhi boys.

The reason why politicians are involved and why the real robbers are present in the bank is too convoluted. And after intermission, the movie turns so serious, you wish they had stuck to whatsapp jokes.

Why do the filmmakers have to borrow loan rescinded idea from Hell Or High water or throw money away as in Now You See Me? The one thing original about this film is the slogan offered: GBMLR - Ganpati Bappa Morya Let’s Rock.