By R. Paul Dhillon – Editor DESIBUZZCanada

The new Punjabi actioner Badnam (Badass) opened last Friday worldwide and is billing itself as a big budget thrill-fest but it’s basically a 3-hour plus copy of the mega-hit South Indian extravaganza Pushpa.

Just as Pushpa used the lucrative red sandalwood smuggling as its main theme, Badnam uses liquor smuggling as its central storyline. And just like the badly written Pushpa, a mix of pulp and cringe, great action set pieces and terrible, overlong story portions, Badnam is also badly written which is a knock on the screenwriter given that its basically a rehash of Pushpa. 

However, it does have some decent dialogue but the story is terribly constructed and just like Pushpa it doesn’t make sense in some parts at all. 

But Badnam like Pushpa is not seeking awards but lots of fans looking for a kick-ass hero who provides the thrills when it comes to beating villains to a pulp. And just like the titular hero Pushpa – Badnam also has a poor and out-caste hero named Badshah who has enough charm and attitude to win over audiences even though parts of the film are unbearably long and annoying. 

While the real-life bad-boy, broadcaster-turned Punjabi film star Jai Randhawa is no Allu Arjun (Pushpa), but he holds his own in a film packed with Punjabi and Bollywood stalwarts like the grand-dame of Punjabi cinema Nirmal Rishi (Gulabo), veteran Rana Jangbhadur (Kala Kohli) and the great Samuel John (Gurdial Singh), who always shines in any film and stage role. 

Here John brings solid  acting strength to his role as the father of the hero who was wronged by a local liquor barron played by Bollywood Uber villain Mukesh Rishi (Zorawar Bal) which sets off the Revenge story. Even generational Bollywood great Raza Murad shows up as a state Chief Minister in a brief role and there are other Bollywood actors who make appearances. 

Jasmeen Bhasin plays the love interest as an NGO girl Noor who’s taken up a fight against drugs and alcohol in Punjab while her new love Badshah is a big liquor smuggler, creating a kind of strange conflict where on the one hand the film seems like one big expensive AD for the liquor industry and on the other it wants to be socially conscious with anti-drugs and alcohol message but it doesn’t quite work and is laughable at best. 

Despite the many flaws, Badnam has a lot going for it as lead Randhawa and ace-director Maneesh Bhatt have created a unique Punjabi action brand that has not existed on this level of action hero-worship before. 

The actor-director combo has also not wasted the big money producers, including Vancouver-based JAB Studios headed by Jag Boparai, have lavished on the film  which has action set pieces on a very high, pro-scale. 

Randhawa, like Jagjeet Sandhu (ILTI is the best film I’ve seen from Punjabi cinema in a long while), is part of the new and rising Punjabi film stars as older lot of Gippy Grewal, Ammy Virk and Amrinder Gill begin to fade away. 

Randhawa has risen in an industry that has long been divided in cliques but now he has claimed the action hero spot as his alone and he’s good and has charm and charisma similar to Pushpa star Arjun. 

While ILTI deserved a much bigger audience in Punjab as it’s a film for the new generation but didn’t get as much love at home as it did abroad, producers of Badnam have their fingers crossed as they wait to see if Punjabi audiences will support a 3-plus hour film just like audiences showed love for Pushpa on a bigger scale.

Punjabi cinema box office is down as none of the films released so far this year have shown great response but hopefully Badnam will set the box office on fire!!!

R. Paul Dhillon is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker who has written, directed and produced over 40 productions including two theatrically released feature films starring Gulshan Grover.