Chime Bottom Review: Focus Is On Akshay Kumar Playing Akshay Kumar - The Film Suffers In The Bargain
sujathadh
Chime Bottom Review: The intricate make-up transforms Lara Dutta into a stony, blank lady who is neither herself nor Mrs. Gandhi. Adil Hussain, as well, needs to get out of his usual range of familiarity and play a solitary note character.
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Huma Qureshi, Vaani Kapoor, Adil Hussain, Thalaivasal Vijay, Abhijit Lahiri
Chief: Ranjit M Tewari
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Featuring Akshay Kumar as a 1980s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) specialist who drives a clandestine activity to save 210 travelers held prisoner on an Indian Airlines plane commandeered by Pakistan-supported outlaws, Bell Bottom imprints Hindi film's re-visitation of the big screen after an extended respite required constantly wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. It isn't, in any case, the huge explosion issue one had anticipated.
The lead entertainer loans unquestionable star capacity to the film, playing a colorful 30-something spy who knows the personalities of ruffians inside and out. That is everything to Bell Bottom. All the other things, including how the chief person is fleshed out, are common.
The film's legend is Anshul Malhotra, a spy codenamed Bell Bottom and wedded to an MTNL worker (Vaani Kapoor) who floats inconspicuously behind the scenes like a decent, loyal, frantically infatuated spouse. Each time the spy gets back, the woman is on the way to get him with embraces and kisses on the cheek.
The foreign affairs minister (Thalaivasal Vijay), the civil aviation minister (Abhijit Lahiri), and the Intelligence Bureau chief are openly skeptical about the spy who has come in from the cold with a set of ideas that are at variance with theirs. James Bond has indeed invoked in one throwaway line that the hero spouts. Do not let that send your expectations soaring - Bell Bottom has neither a top-draw villain nor an enigmatic, sultry femme fatale to liven up the proceedings.
The rescue mission, which sees its share of ups and downs, quite literally kicks up a storm in the desert but the film fizzles out well before it has run its course because director Ranjit M. Tewari's approach is way too leaden-footed for an actioner inspired by true events.
The film has a great deal of action all right, but it is low on emotions. This even though the protagonist is avowed "personally invested" in the case. He goes out on a limb for mother and motherland (armed primarily with poker-faced pomposity) to teach the hijackers a lesson.
