Bombai Ka Babu
- Director
- Raj Khosla
- Studio
- Raj KhoslaJal Mistry
- Running Time
- 154 min
- Language
- Hindi
- Country
- India
Review
Mehta's direction here grapples with a familiar Bollywood archetype—the reformed criminal caught between redemption and circumstance—but the execution falters under the weight of its own narrative ambition. The film attempts to juggle too many plot threads: a childhood friendship fractured by class mobility, a false accusation that derails rehabilitation, blackmail, and ultimately a con masquerade that dominates the final act. While the premise has genuine potential for exploring systemic inequity and moral compromise, the screenplay dilutes these themes through uneven pacing and a tonal inconsistency that oscillates between crime thriller and family drama without fully committing to either. The performances carry the material reasonably well—there's palpable chemistry in the Babu-Malik dynamic, and the emotional core of their diverging paths registers effectively in the opening acts.
However, the narrative coherence deteriorates significantly once the Jogendra Nagar subplot takes over, feeling like an entirely different film grafted onto the first half. The central question of whether Babu deserves redemption gets lost in the mechanics of the heist-within-a-con structure, and the film's thematic spine becomes muddled. Technically, the cinematography captures small-town India with competence, but there's nothing here that elevates the material beyond competent mainstream filmmaking. For a director whose average output sits at 6.2/10, this represents work that occasionally to
Storyline
Babu and Malik are two inseparable friends who live in a small town in India. One day, they decide to play a prank and steal something, but get caught. While Malik's dad came to bail out and stand as surety for him, Babu has no one to do so and ends up in the juvenile centre. When the two grow up, Malik becomes a police inspector, while Babu takes to crime and ends up in jail. When he is released from the jail, he goes to meet his partner-in-crime, Bali, and together they start planning the next heist. Malik meets Babu and tells him to straighten his ways. But Babu had already tried that and ended up being falsely accused of stealing a necklace belonging to his employer's wife. Nevertheless, Babu does inform Bali that he will not be taking part in any crime. Thereafter, Bali and his men are arrested and they blame Babu for ratting on them. Bali is released on bail. When Babu meets him, an argument ensues leading to a fight and Bali is killed. A fearful Babu flees Bombay and lands up in Jogendra Nagar in Northern India, where he meets a man named Bhagat who asks him to masquerade as Kundan, the sole heir of a wealthy man named Shahji. When Babu refuses, Bhagat threatens to notify the police. Babu becomes Kundan and makes his way into the hearts of Shahji, his wife Rukmani and daughter Maya. Babu gets enough cash to pay off Bhagat in small instalments, but Bhagat becomes greedy and wants Babu to steal all the cash and jewellery and abscond. Babu is reluctant to steal from the kind people. To make matters worse, he has fallen in love with Maya - apparently his "sister". Caught between a rock and a hard place - no matter what move Babu makes - he will surely end up trapping himself - not only with Bhagat, but with his newfound family as well as the police - who are now hot on his trail.