Vishal Bhardwaj needs healing – Beyond Bollywood

Violence is a harsh reality we can’t ignore, but its mindless replication on screen offers no true catharsis. Triptii Dimri is the sole saving grace of this mindless romantic action thriller that only pretends to be romantic.

Rating: ⭐️ ( 1 / 5)

By Mayur Lookhar

It’s Friday the 13th. We are sitting in a largely empty cinema hall, your reviewer is gripped by fear. No, we aren’t watching a horror flick. Let’s just say yeh kuch ‘ustara’ ki film hai – wherein the first action scene has the hero sneak into a movie hall and slice dozens of throats. This brutality has rightly earned him the name Ustara (Blade). Should we even review this film? But as Gabbar Singh famously said, “Joh darr gaya, samjho mar gaya.”

Helmed by Vishal Bhardwaj, O’Romeo draws inspiration from noted crime author S. Hussain Zaidi’s works. The razor-wielding hitman Hussain Sheikh, aka Ustara, finds mention in two of his books: Mafia Queens of Mumbai (2011) and The Dangerous Dozen: Hitmen of Mumbai (2024). Before its release, the film courted controversy after the late hitman/gangster’s daughter, Sanober, moved court, accusing the filmmakers of not taking the family’s consent and misrepresenting facts in the initial publicity material.

During the trailer launch, Bhardwaj admitted that the inspiration for the story and its lead characters came from S. Hussain Zaidi’s book (presumably referring to Mafia Queens of Mumbai.) “We bought the rights to the book”, that’s Bollywood’s standard defense when brushing off such controversies. This is a film he’d longed to make for ages, but the dream materialized only a couple of years ago. Accordingly, Bhardwaj and co-writer Rohan Narula took creative liberties to craft this romantic action thriller, O’Romeo.

Story

Year 1995. Seeking revenge against a common enemy, Afshan (Triptii Dimri) reaches out to hitman Ustara (Shahid Kapoor). After initially dismissing her, Ustara agrees to help and even offers arms training. The colourful Ustara starts developing feelings for Afshan, who, however, has only revenge on her mind- particularly taking out the dreaded don Jalal (Avinash Tiwary), now operating from Spain.

Screenplay and direction

Hussain Sheikh was first mentioned in Zaidi’s Mafia Queens of Mumbai, wherein Ustara helped Ashraf Khan (aka Sapna Didi) target Dawood Ibrahim, who had ordered the hit on her husband, Mehmood Kalia. As per Sanober Sheikh, Sapna Didi was like a sister to her father. Bhardwaj, while agreeing that his story derives from the book’s characters, chose to add a romantic spin, hence the title O’Romeo. Is this distorting facts or creative liberty? Mind you, Bhardwaj names his protagonist simply Ustara, while his leading lady is Afshan.

A day before his film’s release, Bhardwaj expressed his gratitude to his team in a few posts on his X account. He begins by mentioning “Before the critics speak and before the box office delivers its verdict” then proclaims that how he has immense capacity for love and violence. He goes on to condemn the incessant violence in society, and wherein the meek get no justice. This entire note felt more like an emotional outburst. Dear Mr. Bhardwaj, violence is a harsh reality we can’t ignore, but its mindless replication on screen offers no true catharsis.

As with most hits, no questions are entertained, but here, Ustara requests the senior cop from the bureau, Ismail Khan (Nana Patekar), to at least reveal some details about whom and why he’s eliminating. One can buy into the theory that Ustara only targets criminals and anti-social elements, but is a razor-wielding hitman worthy of being a hero?

Bhardwaj, and much of Bollywood, is often too quick to retort that cinema merely reflects society. Well, in a population of 1.5 billion, can’t he see beyond the Ustaras, Maqbools, and Charlies? Okay, cinema is no moral classroom, but neither should it glorify criminals.

In the eyes of Bhardwaj’s Ustara, before the terror attacks of 1993, the underworld never indulged into religious politics. Whoa, is Bhardwaj then condoning the underworld’s criminal acts before 1993?

The real shocker, though, comes from Ustara’s grandmother (Farida Jalal), who has no qualms hiring a commercial sex worker to help her grandson emerge from the grief of Afshan leaving him.

Well, we leave it to the audience to judge these characters – but there’s no excuse for the shoddy, sluggish screenplay, insipid direction that saps your energy for much of its 178-minute runtime.

Performances

Shahid Kapoor, Bollywood’s perennial Mr. Inconsistent, is back in his fourth collaboration with Vishal Bhardwaj. Fair to say the latter has often brought out the best in Kapoor, but O’ Romeo seems a desperate move. And with Bhardwaj himself struggling for consistency, O’Romeo is by far the most disappointing film by the duo. Shahid Kapoor’s portrayal of a tattooed, fedora-wearing, womanizing, wine-loving, razor-sharp hitman doesn’t cut much ice with us.

Triptii Dimri is exactly the opposite, shining even in duds. The Qala (2022) actor embodies Afshan’s emotional turmoil and angst beautifully. From a shattered soul, Afshan gradually gains strength to confront her demons – with Dimri never dropping the intensity. From tears to that smiling Afshan in the hat, you can’t take your eyes off Dimri. She is by far the film’s sole saving grace. If slightly critical, the final shot of bloodied-faced Afshan raising her sword falls flat.

For a film hyped as a romantic action thriller, O’Romeo is more a vengeance saga, and possibly a one-sided love story.

Just because you have the budget (and maybe a subsidy), taking a story from Mumbai’s chawls and gangster lanes to the Plaza de Toros (bullrings) of Spain, especially in the mid-90s, makes absolutely no sense. Bhardwaj doesn’t stop the madness there; his antagonist Jalal is an eyesore. Avinash Tiwary gets a fancy haircut, floral designs on his neck, a matador costume, and Bhardwaj expects the desi audience to accept this man as another variant of the much-hated Dawood Ibrahim. To make it worse, more than a dreaded don, Tiwary ends up resembling a raging bull – with only the smoke not blowing out of his ears. And with dialogues like, “Jab geedad ki maut aati hai toh woh sheher bhagta hai, lekin jab saand ki maut aati hai toh woh Spain bhagta hai,” this simply makes you crawl.

Fans would have yearned for her item number, but perhaps Tamannaah Bhatia is pleased to get a meaningful role here. She, however, doesn’t capitalize on her cameo. Honestly, both Tiwary and Bhatia’s efforts, or lack thereof, make O’Romeo feel like an all-paid Spain holiday for the duo.

Veteran Nana Patekar imbibes the good cop finely, while Rahul Deshpande’s portrayal of Pathare, the ghooskor Brahmin cop is anything but impressive.  Our bad cop is a good singer though, but fellow Brahmins will not be amused by his immoral character.

You feel for Farida Jalal who at this age, is made to play the cringe grandmother. Her ‘ishq main joh tar gaya woh Romeo, joh mar gaya woh c#u***@” dialogue went viral. One, however, can’t miss the dichotomy here as Romeo, too, died in love. Surely, the Romeos, and our own Majnus, Mahiwals, Raanjhnas must be turning in their grave.

Music and technical aspects

Bhardwaj is blessed to have Gulzar for all his films, but this time, the melodious duo fails to deliver even one memorable song.

The real Ustara perhaps took shelter among rusty boats in Mazgaon Dockyard, but Bhardwaj and his production designer place their Ustara in an abandoned, semi-furnished big boat. With the film barely engaging, the technical aspects count for nothing.

Final Words

After all these years of inconsistency, Vishal Bhardwaj is perhaps overrated. Honestly, most of his works are adaptations, Gulzar writes his lyrics, and for a guy who claims he never learned music formally, one seriously begins to doubt how much credit Bhardwaj deserves for his films’ music too. So, where’s the originality? Films flop, but the more pressing issue is his bizarre media comments.

Years back, we recall Bhardwaj calling the Animal Welfare Board “a pain in the ass.” During the O’Romeo trailer launch, he found nothing wrong with ramping up violence and profanity in films- even urging the media to “de-gaali.” At the Next on Netflix event, he cited a couplet on hawas (lust). Goodness me, why this kolaveri (murderous rage), Mr. Bhardwaj? Maybe you need to calm down and heal yourself.

Video review below.