For
the
second
time
this
week
Ravi
Kishan
gets
it
bang-on.
Playing
a
vicious
entrepreneur
with
a
marriageable
daughter,
Kishan
is
an
energetic
ball
of
agile
evil.
The
same
goes
for
the
rest
of
the
arresting
ensemble
cast
of
very
capable
actors
who
get
into
the
mood
of
the
con-job
without
fuss
and
with
a
flair
for
acting
funny
without
toppling
over
into
parody.
I
call
it
Fukrey-land.
Welcome
again
to
the
comic
world
of
lovable
losers.
The
cast
here
is
older,
if
not
wiser
than
in
Fukrey.
Mummyji
(Dolly
Ahluwalia)
and
her
family
of
sons
and
son-like
wanderers
must
redeem
the
family
honour.
Hence,
we
encounter
a
series
of
con-jobs,
which
involves
vicious
builders,
bankers,
caterers
and
middlemen.
Delhi
has
been
projected
as
a
hotbed
of
wheelers
and
dealers,
schemers
and
screamers
in
several
recent
films.
This
is
director
Sashant
Shah's
Challo
Dilli
all
over
again,
though
in
a
totally
different
context.
Bajatey
Raho
had
the
potential
to
crack
the
dark-comedy
genre.
The
plot
about
elaborate
con
jobs
implemented
by
middle-class
citizens
has
earlier
been
done
with
tongue-in-cheek
derision
in
Dibakar
Bannerjee's
Khosla
Ka
Ghosla
and
Neeraj
Pandey's
Special
Chabbis.
Here
the
laughter
is
drowned
in
a
whole
lot
of
unnecessary
back-projection
and
emotional
history.
Why
couldn't
Mummyji
and
her
gang
be
up
to
their
money-minded
mischief
and
con
antics
just
for
the
fun
of
it?
Why
the
sob
story
to
prop
the
impropriety?
Not
that
the
storytelling
lacks
a
warm
self-mocking
humour.
When
the
script
sets
its
heart
in
it
some
of
the
characters
are
positively
-
or
do
I
mean
negatively
-
brilliant
in
their
believability.
The
TV
actor,
who
speaks
in
the
third-person
about
himself,
the
principal
of
a
school
caught
accepting
a
bribe
in
a
sting
operation,
the
foreigner
mistress
of
the
slimy
tycoon
who
attends
a
Mata
Ki
Chowki
where
a
parody
of
'Subah
hone
na
de'
from
the
film
Desi
Boys
is
played
as
a
bhajan.
This
happens
only
in
India.
The
film
is
crammed
with
interesting
characters
played
by
interesting
actors.
But
at
the
end
of
it
all,
you
aren't
sure
if
all
of
them
belong
in
this
film.
Ravi
Kishan
as
the
slimy
tycoon,
who
becomes
putty
in
the
pretty
Vishakha
Singh's
hands
is
outstanding.
Brajesh
Kala
as
his
Man-Friday
is
even
more
so.
Brajesh's
Bagga
is
a
yes-man
who
is
now
tired
of
being
kicked
around.
We
catch
this
character
at
a
critical
transitional
phase
in
his
life.
We
know
he
will
explode.
And
he
does.
Other
actors
suffer
from
roles
that
are
either
under-written
or
over-performed,
depending
on
which
phase
of
the
serio-comic
narration
he
or
she
is
required
to
sustain.
There
are
signs
of
intelligent
writing
everywhere.
But
the
material
sags
for
the
lack
of
a
sincere
motivation.
The
climax
with
Dolly
Ahluwalia
posing
in
a
white
wig
as
Mrs
Hansal
Mehta
is
laughably
short
of
humour.
Nonetheless,
Bajatey
Raho
does
give
us
a
few
chuckles
even
while
delivering
a
rap
on
the
knuckle
to
the
naqalchi
wannabe
rich
middle-class
in
Delhi.
This
is
a
dig
at
the
Gurgaon
quick-rich
culture.
But
the
taunt
gets
lost
in
an
aimless
jaunt.