I must admit that I did revise the Tamil film Theri days before the release of Baby John, something that made me worried. Even if I were to compare Theri with Jawan, one being the earlier work of Atlee, and the other his latest, you would see a drastic change in his style of filmmaking. While Atlee does retain his commercial vibes, there is definitely an upgradation of his presentation. So Theri by no means has aged well, and so if the creative decision was to present Theri as it is in Baby John, then there was nothing that would save the film. With respect to Baby John, there is one good news and one bad news straight up in comparison to Theri – the good news is that the presentation style of Varun Dhawan is pretty impressive while letting go of some outdated tropes from the original. The bad news is that it is still a scene to scene copy of Theri from its original storyboard (about 90% to 95% of the storyline is exactly the same), which in a way dilutes the impact of the drama straight up! And one thing to also note is that Varun Dhawan (VD) is not (yet) a Thalapathy Vijay, an important cog behind the success of the original film. If a side character walks away with a rupturous applause from the audience on a meta one-liner (wherein he absolutely nails it), this, while not a single line from VD is memorable, then it is a problem!

If you are still interested, the flashback portions of Baby John are exactly the same as Theri. You are (re)introduced to the protagonist who doubles up as a headmaster to beat the sh*t out of a pack of goons who have vandalized a school. Further, he rescues a group of street-kids from their evil master by beating him to pulp, and finding the love of his life in the very next scene. Through these lines, you do get a gist that the drama lacks coherence, a similar issue with Pushpa 2 (where I say the penetration of the reel culture). But individually, the tracks work decently in Baby John too even though I knew exactly what was coming my way. The downer for me (like in Theri) was the romantic angle that didn’t quite find its roots with me. It was far too frivolous for my liking, even as the drama was interrupted by the presence of songs that broke its rhythm in a big way. The idea to present the protagonist just like a superstar from the South might seem to be the flavour of the season, but the flavours still need to come together in the story. Further, the introduction of the antagonist is almost like giving him a montage – for instance a consolation mention in a cricket highlights package wherein a side losing the match by 9 wickets, has a wicket to show against the fours and sixes of the opposition. It is cliched while never really getting deep into the character, much like the surface-level treatment of the film.

The proceedings are decent but nothing that you may not have expected from this ‘tadka’. The beats of the drama would be predictable even if you aren’t familiar with the original source material. So some of the most heinous crimes are met with instant modes of justice, in what forms a game of cat and mouse between the protagonist and the antagonist. The emotional connect is heavily sidelined while the swagger is given importance, a creative decision that felt a little lighter than it ought to have been. The romantic angle continues to be a distraction, something that refuses the possibility of a payoff at the end, in one of the more disturbing scenes of the film. If you notice the original film, there was a rhythm to that scene that spelt shock and tension in the same breath. But the inexperience of the new filmmaker was slightly exposed, even as the scene kept on dragging while being devoid of emotions. 

The portions of the second half atleast have a fun factor associated with it – a montage of scenes that reserves the best parts of the match by combining them in a thrilling highlights package. You see the protagonist copping a blow only to retaliate with a lot of swagger, while shedding his brooding image of the present and reminiscing his bad-ass avatar of his past. Clearly, the coherence is missing but atleast the events were entertaining to a point that it held my attention. Yes, a few changes to the original source material made its presence here, in a rather pleasant manner. One of the complaints that I had with the original was its uninspiring finale that undid most of the thrilling bits of the film. In that regard, Baby John excels in a more spaced out finale that is at the very least watchable with the right kind of emotions in store. The surprise cameo at the end was a massive upgradation from the one in Singham Again, and it did contribute to a fun watch at the very least. But for the romantic angle, the screenplay mostly remains a faithful remake of Theri. But the question that you need to ask yourself is whether this film needed to be existed even as the Hindi dubbed version of Theri is available on Youtube for free!