All audience reviews of Baby

Neeraj Pandey in little time has demanded an exclusive space for himself as a storyteller. He is more of a Hollywood filmmaker in terms of sensibility. His films smell of immense nationalistic significance in a true-to-life setting, without exactly being so. No long drawn shots. No flowery dialogue. Intelligence over emotion, wit over gut. A whole lot of moustached men dominating the scene and women who silently lend support. Baby too doesn't take a drastic U turn, (well almost) being an extremely loyal and a favourable third extension to his brand that took an extremely interesting turn with Special 26.

Baby as a film is a memorable assemblage of Pandey's key strengths, logic, action and comedy. He controls his exploits and uses them sparingly. The beautiful low-key humour is artfully preserved to enhance the intensity. The punchlines bring about the smiles, but it's the silent moments that are a scream.

The characters in Baby are assigned like that of a top-notch corporate setup. No back stories. An intelligence team has a task-man in the form of an extremely well-cast Akshay Kumar who's backed by Anupam Kher and Rana, happening to be stereotypes of the smart and the stunt man respectively. They talk only what's needed. Their personal lives make no news. Tolerate a half-baked thread of Akshay Kumar's, which is only made memorable with the line 'Marke Mat Aana' as a dangerous dig at his profession. Work is only what they are good at and they mean business. The surprise is not the men, but a ravishing Taapsee, given the impact she brings in spite of a screen time that could have reduced her to a colourful special appearance.

Most of the sketches except for Akshay Kumar in fact have a lesser screen time here. But, the honours are really even. There could have been hopes to see more of capable actors like Anupam Kher, Kay Kay Menon contributing to the plot. However, the director doesn't give in to the temptation.They are just devices and nothing more.

Going back to the lady who just had to please estrogen-starved souls in Chashme Buddoor, Neeraj Pandey extracts an unparalleled body language and a fitting screen-presence from her. The crowd in response too didn't think twice to erupt when she turns her action avatar on. Why ? Precisely for a reason that, they were surprised. Just a little re-imagination and there you go, no complaints ! The smaller cares like these are the icings in a better film more than a story.

The film in addition has a crisp feel for the medium. An assistant to the PM here makes a reckless statement about the Intelligence Bureau. Akshay Kumar is angry. He closes the door, plants him a tight slap and again opens it. The man is shocked. The world moves on normally again. A blink and the message is delivered. (Meaning Shut Up and get back to business)

Baby is aesthetically structured with precision. There are barely any lags. Akshay Kumar is wise enough to keep his starry ideas under check. There's not a single Punjabi song reference. There's no Yo Yo Honey Singh mash-up to boost the party-goers. You can complain that most of Pandey's are touched like individual episodes and lack emotion. But when so many things go right in a strong film, does anything matter more ? Bring it on Baby ! less

BABY::
An intelligent execution is what summarizes this brave film.
Anti-terrorism being the backbone of the film and not anti-Pakistan,revolves around small missions that took place in and around India's security in the recent past. The research behind the script is quite strong which convinces us to believe in the not so larger than life characters portrayed. This film works because of the unconventional and outlandish thrills that every minute offers. In fact in the last 30 minutes it is difficult to take even a popcorn break.Indeed an Edge-of-the-seat-stuff!!!
Danny and Akshay impresses with High performances while the ensemble is spot on. Indeed a point comes where a cliche drops in but Neeraj Pandey manages to bring out one of the better thrillers.
The action is slick,real and not lazy.Kudos to Neeraj for the portrayal of a subject untouched generally.
DONOT MISS IT........ less

Movie Name : BABY
Genre : Action / Thriller
Rating : Excellent 4 /5
Move over commercial masala potboilers with item songs,hero smashing 10 guys with a single blow and typical song-dance routine -Neeraj Pandey's BABY will give you goosebumps with fact-paced gritting thrills and excitement
An elite covert operation group BABY learns about bomb implanted in various cities in India. They must investigate and unravel the terrorist plan before time flies killing thousand of innocent citizen.
Directed by Neeraj Panday, whose previous work included A Wednesday and Special Chabbis, BABY will consume you right from the opening as Akshay Kumar gets involved into the investigation and the cat-mouse begins. From here onward there is no turning back as the movie gives you nice twist-n-turns with well- choreographed action scenes. The scene where Akshay interrogates a suspect by stuffing him in a plastic bag is one of the best scene I have seen in recent time. The scene where Akshay Kumar's partner officer fights with another suspect before he comes for the rescue is simply mindblowing. Icing on the cake is the climax scenes which has been well executed. On the flip side, length of the movie could have been reduced little further. But brilliant screenplay, Art direction and cinematography is spellbinding. Background score gels well with the mood of the film. Dialogues are fine. It is Akshay Kumar's show all the way. A thumbs up to him for doing something different from his usual masala potboilers. Other actors do justice to their role
Overall , BABY is nail-biting , reality-based action thriller that is going to give you goose bumps. Brilliant 4.5/5 less

There are two ways to look at Baby; for the film itself attempts to merge two genres that do not exactly go well together. On one hand Baby is a typical Bollywood action thriller falling comfortably in the Gadar zone with overt chest thumping jingoism and bravado superceeding every sense of logic and reality. Holiday is the other recent example that comes to my mind in the same zone.

On the other hand, Baby also attempts a Madras Cafe or Black Friday- spalshing in references to real incidents and people to contextualize the proceedings. Unfortunately for the film, it does justice to neither of the two, ensuring the end result is passable action film that will not kill you.

Akshay Kumar is an undercover cop who is out to rid the entire earth of bad guys plotting against India. He is a modern version og Gadar's Sunny Deol- wears his love for the nation as a badge of honor, takes himself way too seriously and forgets that as a cop, a public servant, he is bound by certain rules and decorum. For him anything goes in his fight against terror.

The terror itself too is over the top mashup of Arnab Goswami school of shouting and sscreaming. Muslims are the villains, though there is a token Muslim senior cop with the honest loyal heart, and another turn coat one who trains as a terrorist but has a change of heart. Cliches like these abound the script as the makers find no reason to flesh out characters and delve into the grayer areas.

Akshay goes around ransacking homes, killing anyone remotely with a beard or a wink-eye expression when he should not and does not bother about collateral damages. Politicians are self serving morons out to loot the country and if it were not for our super cop the terrorist would have a field day. What Baby does is to amplify the fear mongering and irresponsible jounralism news dishes out day in and day out and makes it into a celebration of unbriddled machismo.

Akshay works well in a set up like this, his acting chops rusting, he relies heavily on his action man image. Which thankfully is still intact. He does make the film watchable to a large extent. What makes one cringe though is the unneccesary and half hearted treatement metted out to the politics at the heart of the film and the absilute insensitivity to the other narrative every terror story has. A bevy of good actors like Danny, Sushant are wasted in thankless cardboard roles that do nothing more than deliver charged jingositic lines to the camera.

Watching Baby, if i dare say, reminds me also of American Sniper- propaganda masked as a feature film that instills a narrative espoused by mass media into the minds of unsuspecting audeinces. American Sniper at least was slickly made. Baby however is just passable. less

Neeraj Pandey- A name that guarantees a quality product when it comes to cinema delivers yet another gem with his much awaited 'Baby'.Akshay Kumar stars as Ajay, the secret intelligence agent who tries to stop the bombings in country along with a team called 'Baby'.
Most of the movie belongs to Akshay Kumar and Danny Denzongpa as they get the maximum screen time and Akshay like Special Chabbis delivers a mature and impactful performance. Kay Kay Menon looks convincing while the other star cast has very limited presence on screen.The surprising factor turns out to be Tapsee Pannu who shines in her mere 20 minute role.
The script has its flaws but are outdone by the brilliant direction of Neeraj Pandey.It is a complete no-nonsense film.Also a word of mention to the cinematographer who does a brilliant job. The film is a bit too long but never manages to lose its grip on you.Moreover, it is a crime to even blink.
I would go for a 4.5 and a strong recommendation for Baby.After a long time a movie has come that is as gripping as a Hollywood movie and yet seems like a movie that every Indian will enjoy.

P.S.- A bit of editing and a less runtime would have forced me for a 5/5 rating. less