One of the reasons why Badass Ravikumar works is because it doesn’t take itself seriously. It is trashy and it knows that it is trashy. So the immediately next step for the makers was to literally go All Out with its silliness – unlike a few other ‘massy’ films from last year that never looked at its flaws as silly by always aspiring to be invincible. Enough ranting and back to the film – there are literally no rules in this universe. If you still care about the story, this Expose’ Universe continues to evolve (10 years after its Bollywood footing) in Muscat, wherein Badass cop, Badass Ravikumar is sanctioned a mission to retrieve a reel that contains all the confidential information of the country (Army, Navy..Tiger, Pathaan…you name it and it is there). His nemesis is Carlos Pedro Panther (Prabhudeva) who is tasked in to bring the reel to a Pakistani agent, even shows off his ‘killing’ moves by shooting his own people – one who undermined his designation and the other who was underconfident😂😂. But Carlos is a dancer too, shaking a leg on the song Tandoori Days like a pro with the immaculately stiff but effective protagonist Ravikumar (Himesh Reshammiya).

Ravikumar though its introduced as a random montage of slicing people with a chainsaw, to shooting VFX-ridden bullets to unknown assailants, and living a life of poetry and dialogue-baazi – given how all his lines are either Shayaris or hard-hitting massy dialogues. This, while he remains tobacco free after having promised his elder brother on how he will never smoke a cigarette. So while he does pop a cigarette in his mouth for sass, he doesn’t light it while delivering killer lines even as the stick continues to be in his mouth (or sometimes not – there are no rules here). The events are straight from the 80s and downright entertaining – a random glance by Ravikumar towards the love of his life, takes him back in a full flashback mode even as an entire song is picturized in a circle featuring the hero and the heroine Madhubala (Simona). But Ravikumar always makes her kickass sister Laila (Kirti Kulhari) weak in her knees, thereby creating a unique dynamic. Incidently, none of these random side tracks derail the film, in anything, the drama turns to be even more hilarious.

There is a certain rhythm to the film while constantly having the knack of serving some outrageous sequence that never allows the proceedings to be dull. If you blink, you will miss a gag, if you don’t, you will miss a breath (not sure why did I write that, but you get the point😂). It is almost like taking the reel culture to the next level through its sequences that surprisingly remain aware of what they are intended for. For instance – a random shootout sequence at the halfway mark, was immediately nullified after the interval when the actual reveal transpires on how the protagonist escaped injury. In a few serious moments, even the maa-beta (mother-son) emotions land, wherein the makers remain committed to the cliched source material. In another sequence – there are multiple songs that are played out between Nisha (Sunny Leone) and Ravikumar, one after another. Hilariously, there are costume changes involved too, all this in the middle of a concert that acts as a backdrop for an ongoing heist. Omg, you have to see it to believe it😂😂😂.

The final act in a way, also begins with a random heist sequence. That sequence itself is just so hilarious that will put the Hrithik Roshan sequence in Dhoom 2 to absolute shame. No kidding – the gravity defying and camouflaged sequence will go down as one of the most iconic sequences ever. What’s more is that you can clearly see a body double beneath the mask performing that stunt, but whoever would care. It was hilarious thereby serving its purpose😂! A side sequence also involved a random love-track in the middle of a gun-battle that had me in splits. Oh boy – and you need to hear this out. In the finale sequence, the antagonist literally breaks the fourth wall to ask permission from the viewers to break into a dance number because validating the data in the reel will take time. If this isn’t some self-aware humour, then I don’t know what is! On the little downside, there were some lags in the second hour, one right at the end with an extended fight sequence that went on forever. But these are literally little flaws in an otherwise entertaining affair. I had an absolute blast while witnessing the screenplay that was an absolute banger from a parody perspective!