An official adaptation of the original Tamil film Kaithi, Bholaa follows the story of an ex-convict who must take a perilous journey in order to meet his daughter. Now one thing baffling for me was that since the Hindi dub of Kaithi was already available, was Bholaa necessary? The answer is not straight forward here as the beats of Bholaa are the same as Kaithi. But this is not a frame to frame remake with the makers introducing a tinge of originality in the story that does make for a commendable watch. The screenplay standing at a 140 odd minutes does make for a decent watch where the focus is a lot more on the action sequences. But in doing so, the soul of the film goes missing in certain places.

The drama does open with a terrific chase sequence wherein the character of Tabu is introduced. Swapping the genders of the cop here is first of the many changes that Bholaa has to offer. The ability of Lokesh Kanagaraj to create a world with unrelated events was the highlight of Kaithi to begin with. But instead, here while placing the unrelated incidents together, the screenplay also does accomodate a raunchy item number which does nothing really to add anything new to the screenplay. The idea should have been in introducing the viewers to the characters through their actions that would have made for an even further compelling viewing. You also get a glimpse of Bholaa in between as opposed to revealing him to the audience in that truck sequence from the original.

The beats of the drama here are pretty much similar to Kaithi that does make for a gritty and compelling watch. The proceedings are fairly engrossing although the drama doesn’t quite have anything new to surprise the viewer in terms of its skeletal structure. But the drama does well in keeping the viewers engaged. I just had two points of criticism here – one is related to how simplistic the screenplay has been designed to be as opposed to the layered one of the original wherein you still are placing which thread is connected where. Also, the reading of the character of Bholaa is flawed turning him into a superhero of sorts. Dilli from Kaithi was vulnerable with the core emotion being that of a father yearning for his daughter. Her that emotion is superficial.

The first half is filled with multiple action sequences and some of which do work too. Some scenes though seem to be computer generated that do not leave the desired impact. But a few others result in an exhilarating ride! But it is the second half that slows things down with a bit of a back story of Bholaa that sucks the tension away from the drama. Remember Bholaa and his team are on the run and so even if a back story was required, it could have been in the form of flashes that the protagonist would get time and again. The best scenes of Bholaa are staged at the police station where there is the right amount of tension generated(with a couple of fresh twists and turns). And the reason for that was that the action was grounded. The final act here is abrupt and almost like a video game, a criticism that I did have with the original too. But the mid-credits scene is a good one ensuring that the universe would expand in a different direction. But overall, the screenplay is decently well penned and definitely has moments to cherish.