Bloody Daddy (2023) Shahid Kapoor Movie Review

While well-made crime shows and films based on drug mafias have been keeping us hooked to the big screen and on streaming platforms, we are served a half-baked and bland Bloody Daddy. Right from sketchy characters with absolutely no back stories, a wafer-thin plot to a screenplay that unfolds like scattered pieces of a puzzle and a climax that takes no NASA brains to decode, this Ali Abbas Zafar directed film makes you wonder if he rushed to make it, write it, edit it and release it, basically faltering in every aspect of filmmaking.

An adaptation of French film Sleepless Night (2011), the film has average dialogues and mediocre action scenes clubbed with uncooked characters that needed way more depth and detailing to leave a lasting impact. If anything works, it’s Shahid Kapoor’s heroic screen presence, but unfortunately, he also disappoints in the acting department this time. Maybe it’s got to do with his recent choices of playing angry men. I mean, we have seen him being needlessly broody, alcoholic, picking fights, and being eccentric a bit too much now. We have had enough of that crazy streak in Kabir Singh, and saw some glimpses of it Jersey and Farzi, too. So seeing Shahid do that same stuff, all over again in Bloody Daddy, wasn't really inviting.

Bloody Daddy chronicles the story of one night when NCB officer Sumair Azad (Shahid Kapoor) goes to meet drug lord Sikander Choudhary (Ronit Bose Roy) in his club to return a bag of cocaine in exchange for his kidnapped teenage son. But things don’t go as per plan and what ensues is a 'bloody' fight. It all starts when one morning, Sumair nabs drug dealers along with his colleague Jaggi (Zeishan Quadri), and seizes cocaine worth ₹50 crore. While Sumair somehow manages to retrieve the bag from NCB office to be able to keep his son safe, he’s oblivious to the fact that he’s being shortchanged at multiple levels within NCB. He ends up in fights with his colleagues Aditi Rawat (Diana Penty) and senior Sameer Singh (Rajeev Khandelwal). At one point, everyone is a suspect, and ahead of the climax, things become clear and it’s a cakewalk to figure how the end will eventually pan out.

With a runtime of two hours, it’s fast paced and well-edited but never rises beyond being a cat and mouse chase and fight. The action thriller that Zafar has co-written with Aditya Basu and Siddharth–Garima kicks off on a high note and in no time, nosedives into being a bland unfolding of events that doesn’t offer any adrenaline rush.

Given that the film was shot in 36 days during the Covid-19 pandemic, it opens with quite a few warnings regarding the initial lockdown, the second wave claiming lives, people rendered jobless, the increase in crime rate ahead of the third wave and everyone used to the new normal. And I expected Zafar to build the premise on these lines, however, I see nothing of this translate into the actual script, other than a few superficial scenes where we see people masked up, guests at a high-profile wedding being tested and criminals talking about how the pandemic has doomed their hotel and drug business, so they need to resurrect it.

For once I thought if not the screenplay, the casting would do some wonders, alas, it’s rather disappointing how every single actor has been made to look like a sidekick with nobody getting to showcase their acting chops to the best of their ability. Ronit Roy, a delight to watch on screen, doesn’t have a clear direction between being a good cop or a bad cop. Rajeev Khandelwal struggles in action sequences and never looks convincing enough. Sanjay Kapoor comes as a stylised villain only to vanish in thin air once his part is done. Ankur Bhatia and Vivaan Bhatena as bad guys, do a decent job but have too little to do. Lost in this male-dominated cast, we get Diana Penty trying to hold her ground and she isn’t that bad, actually. She doesn’t go overboard and maintains a calming balance. In fact, the young boy who plays Shahid’s onscreen son, Atharva, is quite good and refreshing.

The biggest joke of Bloody Daddy is in the title itself. After each action sequence, we see Shahid and Rajeev’s characters covered in blood stains, and the next moment, it’s all gone. They just start afresh from where they left the fight but, no blood on their faces or clothes. It’s actually difficult to digest such bad continuity breaks.

Overall, Bloody Daddy might keep you hooked only for the sheer thrill of watching Shahid do some action and stunts on screen, but it falls prey to its own cliches and tropes.

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Ronit Roy, Rajeev Khandelwal, Diana Penty, Vivan Bhatena, Sanjay Kapoor, Ankur Bhatia

Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

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