Badmashiyaan
- Director
- Amit Khanna
- Studio
- VRG Motion Pictures
- Release Date
- 5 May 2015
- Running Time
- 132 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
- Budget
- ₹2.00 Cr
- Box Office
- ₹1.03 Cr
Review
"Badmashiyaan" attempts to weave romance and redemption around a central premise of emotional entanglement, but stumbles significantly in execution. The narrative setup—a chance accident catalyzing unexpected connection while our protagonist nurses old wounds—has potential, yet director Rajat Kapoor's treatment feels undercooked and tonally confused. The film oscillates between light Punjabi charm and heavy-handed melodrama without earning either. Vicky Kaushal's Dev could have been a compelling study in emotional paralysis, but the performance remains surface-level, never quite convincing us why a successful café owner would remain financially and psychologically devastated years after a relationship's end. The introduction of Pinkesh Kapoor as a "part-time detective" friend signals the film's tonal uncertainty—is this a romance, a drama, or a comedy of errors? The screenplay can't decide, and neither can the film sustain coherent thematic momentum.
The ₹1.03 crore box office return reflects what the final product delivers: a premise with commercial appeal that fails in storytelling rigor. For a romantic drama, the emotional beats feel manufactured rather than organic; the ghost-in-the-night abandonment of Naari is presented as tragedy but never adequately contextualized or justified. Secondary performances lack chemistry, and the Chandigarh setting, while visually pleasant, isn't leveraged to deepen character or narrative. Even the meet-cute accident sequence that should a
Storyline
So this movie kicks off with these adorable Punjabi sweethearts, and then we jump ahead to Chandigarh in 2014 where this guy Dev is having a rough day. He's distracted on a phone call when a basketball causes him to slam on the brakes, which sets off this whole chain reaction involving a bus and this cute couple who literally fall into each other and spark a romance. Meanwhile, a taxi driver named Gurinder gets super angry at Dev and makes a huge fuss about the accident, but Dev turns out to be this successful café owner who runs a really popular spot called Café Konnect.
The movie then rewinds and shows us Dev's backstory, which is pretty heartbreaking honestly. He had this moment where he was photographing a girl but ended up helping another woman named Naari instead, bringing her to his café. They eventually moved in together and Dev even took out a massive loan because he was so into her. Just when everything seemed perfect and he planned to propose at this fancy five-star restaurant, Naari basically ghosted him by sneaking out during dinner. Since then, Dev's been keeping all her stuff and honestly just going through the motions with life.
Now Dev's pinning all his hopes on his buddy Pinkesh Kapoor, who happens to be a part-time detective, probably to help him figure things out or track down Naari. The whole vibe is that Dev's stuck in this emotional rut and needs some serious help moving forward, which is where the story seems to be heading from here.
