Baby John movie review: Varun Dhawan packs a solid punch in stylised, predictable mass actioner with strong emotions

Director: Kalees

Cast: Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jackie Shroff, Rajpal Yadav, Zara Zyanna, and others

Where To Watch: Theaters

Rating: 3.5 stars

After directing superstar Thalapathy Vijay in three back-to-back blockbusters - Theri (2016), Mersal (2017), and Bigil (2019), Atlee made his Bollywood directorial debut with Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jawan last year. The action thriller raked in more than Rs 1000 crore worldwide and Atlee became one of the most sought out filmmakers in the Indian film industry. Now, after an year, the director is back again but as a producer with Baby John, an adaptation of his own hit Theri. Atlee has reintroduced Varun Dhawan in a never seen before avatar in this mass commercial actioner, backed by strong emotions and a stunning Keerthy Suresh in her Bollywood debut.

Baby John begins in Alappuzha, Kerala, where Varun Dhawan's titular character is staying with her daughter Khushi (Zara Zyanna). Khushi wants his dedicated, peaceful father to start a relationship with her new school teacher Tara (Wamiqa Gabbi). But things soon take an ugly turn when their lives collide with a dangerous human trafficking gang. To protect his daughter, the Baby in Baby John switches on his Beast mode and we go back to his past life as DCP Satya Verma, who was Mumbai's top cop six years ago. Satya'a romantic life with his wife Meera Verma (Keerthy Suresh) is jolsted by the politician Babbar Sher (Jackie Shroff). The rest of the plot revolves around how Satya's traumatic past comes back to haunt his present life leading him to exact his revenge on Babbar Sher and protect Khushi.

Having not seen Theri, Baby John was an entertaining watch for me. It follows a predictable template of multiple action scenes, a flashback, a cutesy love story, and the hero overpowering the villain in the end, but they all fit together perfectly in an engrossing screenplay here. The action set pieces have been choreographed and stylised well. The biggest strength of the film is the fact that it is backed by strong emotions, but it falters when it wants to make you feel those emotions through its loud background music. Baby John wants to give out a strong social message against the rapists, but that doesn't come across well and feels more like an afterthought. 

When Varun Dhawan was announced as the lead of Baby John, it raised eyebrows if he would be able to pull off a mass commercial actioner. But, Varun negates these doubts with a sincere and heartfelt performance in his most massiest avatar. He looks more badass as Satya Verma than Baby John. With his two best performances coming in small budget films October and Badlapur, Baby John is the perfect mass vehicle that Varun Dhawan deserves, and will put him in a separate league from his contemporaries. Keerthy Suresh, in her Bollywood debut, shows why she is such an accomplished actress and owns the screen with her charming screen presence. Wamiqa Gabbi shines in her small role. Rajpal Yadav shows once again that he isn't just a comic actor. 

Jackie Shroff as the menacing villain is another major highlight of the film and it's great to see him giving out a strong performance after years. The other accomplished actors such as Sheeba Chaddha, Zakir Hussain, and Prakash Belawadi give much needed support to the film. Rohit Shetty needs to learn a lesson on how to integrate cameos in movies as Salman Khan brings the house down in the film's final scene. Chulbul Pandey was completely wasted in Singham Again, but Bhai steals the show as Agent Bhai Jaan here.

The mass commercial actioner is directed by Kalees, who retains the Atlee flavour and adds his own style into the mix. It should lift off the Christmas curse from the Hindi film industry as the last few films released on this festive season failed to bring audiences to the theatres. Baby John is the perfect masala entertainer that the Bollywood needed to round off a rather disappointing year.