Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Review: Akshay Kumar And Tiger Shroff Starrer Wins Title Of 'Worst Action Flick Of The Year'

‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’ Movie Review: The Akshay Kumar-Tiger Shroff starrer takes a slow route filled with flashbacks and cringeworthy dialogues to reach its goal.

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Movie Review: Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff coming guns blazing to take down the enemies can’t be a bad weekend watch; that must have been the thought fans had after watching the trailer of ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’. However, as someone who watched (read: lived through) the first show in an entirely empty theatre, I have some beans to spill.

This Ali Abbas Zafar, who has movies like 'Tiger Zinda Hai', 'Jogi', and 'Bloody Daddy' (not masterpieces but decent watches) to his credit, directed action flick is not exactly good news. Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff (aka Freddy and Rocky), both actors renowned for their actioners, have been reduced to dull, caricaturish soldiers delivering dialogues such as “Humara ego humare talent se bada hai” and “Terrorism mein bhi nepotism”. To say the least, even Shroff’s flexed biceps and flying kicks cannot save this snooze-fest.

Prithviraj Sukumaran As A Clichéd Villian

The film kicks off with introducing a masked antagonist, portrayed by Prithviraj Sukumaran, who seems like a hybrid of Darth Vader with the voice of Batman. Now, anyone who has watched Sukumaran’s survival drama ‘Aadujeevitham’ must have gained a newfound appreciation for the actor. And then, witnessing him trying too hard to come across as mysterious and menacing figure? Such a painful letdown. 

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan Plot Turns Into Snooze-fest

The director takes forever to build up the narrative with constant disclaimer about a ‘Pralay’. After a while, it gets so tiresome that you want to yell, “Get on with it already!”. Just when you're about to lose it, Manushi Chillar as Captain Misha shows up finding out that the Indian forces have to face something more scary than just bombs and missiles. Meanwhile, Colonel Adil Shekhar Azad, played by Ronit Roy, has his hopes pinned on his best soldiers Bade and Chote to safeguard the ultimate defense weapon, Karan Kawach. Sukumaran's character, Kabir, on the other hand, seems bent on erasing India from the global map (if that's what he really meant in the movie).

After this, ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’, which has a lengthy runtime of 164 minutes, takes the slow route filled with flashbacks and cringeworthy dialogues, to reach their goal. When the highly confidential ‘package’ is stolen after a hijack, the court-martialed soldiers Freddy and Rocky are summoned to save the day. The Boomer and Gen Z duo, who have a great camaraderie, end up acquiring the package aka Captain Priya (Sonakshi Sinha). The film hinges on the concept of advanced AI technology, and to justify this, Priya is presented as the ‘human hard drive’ who is holding onto all the codes of an invisible technological shield inside her head.

Guns And Goons But No Glory In Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff Film

Despite the shortcomings, there are a few redeeming factors that work in favour of the film. Whenever Captain Firoz and Captain Rakesh pack a punch in the adrenaline-pumping action sequences, you feel like overlooking the disappointing parts. Supported by the calm Captain Misha (Manushi Chillar) and the chatty IT specialist Pam (Alaya F), the actors try their best to keep the film afloat. Cinematographer Marcin Laskawiec also deserves credit for capturing some stunningly shot scenes to back the larger-than-life action scenes. Although, did they really need to run in slow-mo so often, giving off major Baywatch vibes? Not sure.

Seriously, did they let AI generate this script? If so, we're foreseeing a bad sign for the future of cinema. The tangled screenplay of 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' will remind you of every Bollywood to Hollywood action movie you have ever seen. Whether it's Captain Misha’s introductory scene in the back alley somewhere in Shanghai or veiled Freddy and Rocky riding in the middle of a desert, it seems borrowed from Marvel movies. The only thing original are probably the corny dialogues.

Much like in this film, the overused tropes in the action genre are getting overwhelming, especially with a sea of such films in the past couple of years. And let's be real: there are certain antics in movies that only Salman Khan can make bearable, IYKYK.