Bank Chor Movie Review

Bank Chor Movie Review

Bank Chor is a tiresomely bad film. Let me explain that – some films are so bad that they become good. These are the best kind because at least they make you laugh. Then you have the big-budget bad ones that enrage you with the sheer wastage of money and opportunity. So at least they evoke an emotion. Bank Chor is neither. It's just witless and pointless and it leaves you utterly depleted.

Three bumbling thieves try to rob a bank. Hotshot CBI officer Amjad Khan, played by Vivek Anand Oberoi, shows up. So do Mumbai cops – all munching on vada pav – and a reporter in high heels. The first half is comedy, most of which is unfunny. Though I did enjoy Baba Seghal playing himself. When he insists on rapping through the robbery, they gag him to shut him up. Champak, played by Riteish Deshmukh, is a Mumbai boy and the other two thieves, Genda and Gulab are from Delhi. So they keep arguing about which city is better. Champak is a Vastu bhakt who insists that, main shanivar ko jhoot nahin bolta. These are the original three idiots – mid-robbery, they stop to watch a YouTube video on how to break into a safe. When Champak says Ab kaam chalu karein, the answer is: hum chalu kaam nahin karte hain.

But even this limp comedy is better than the second half because now the tone gets serious. Bullets fly, blood is spilled and then, once again, the tone shifts –  just like that, Bank Chor becomes a breezy heist movie. It feels like director Bumpy couldn't decide what he was making so he added a bit of everything. The actors gamely keep going. Riteish Deshmukh does his best to enliven this leaden plot – if you sit through the credits, you will see that he's even willing to take potshots at himself. That's a trait to be admired. Vivek Anand Oberoi does his best to be a dashing CBI officer – at one point, he snarls at the camera and says about criminals – I like to crush their spirit.

I think the truly crushed spirit belongs to viewers who venture into this folly.

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