After Bollywood closed 2024 with such a spectacular flop like Baby John, almost every critic, industry analyst, and film enthusiast started writing long articles about how remakes, sequels, unoriginal scripts, and propaganda films will not allow the Hindi film industry to remain sustainable. And I couldn’t help but agree. Personally, last year was awful for a variety of reasons. But the dearth of good Hindi films, something I had relied on since my childhood to tide me over through tough times, only exacerbated the feelings of dread, despair, and depression.
I realized that I wasn’t excited about the upcoming release. I started wondering if something was wrong with me or with films in general. That’s when I saw the trailer for Badass Ravi Kumar. It looked absurd, and the best part was that I knew it was. It had songs that didn’t sound like a fusion of Hindi and Punjabi. On top of all that, Himesh Reshammiya was front and center, delivering dialogue after dialogue like there was no tomorrow. For the first time in a long time, I felt excited about going to the cinema to watch a movie. Were my expectations met? Allow me to explain.
Director: Keith Gomes
Writers: Kushal Ved Bakshi, Bunty Rathore, Himesh Reshammiya
Stars: Mustafa Askari, Prabhu Deva, Anil George
Keith Gomes' Ravi Kumar badass, written by Himesh Reshammiya, Kushal Bakshi and Bunty Rathore (dialogues only), is set in 1989, when a Pakistani extremist rebel named Syed Bashir seeks to obtain some important documents that will enable him to bring India to its knees. He travels to Muscat and makes contact with the dreaded international terrorist Carlos Pedro Panther, who in turn activates his network of spies to do the job – for a price, of course. But, as soon as Carlos is about to get hold of the reel, which contains these incriminating documents, Laila shows up and uses it as a bargaining chip to get hold of a precious necklace that has been deemed impossible to steal.
While all this is going on, Interpol's Mahavir Ahuja and Indian Police Commissioner Awasthi turn to the titular character to (unofficially) put an end to this international conspiracy. While Ravi Kumar is known for shooting first and asking questions later, he is at a disadvantage due to Laila's proximity to Carlos and her intention to marry off her sister and Ravi Kumar's ex-lover Madhubala to Raftaar, a monstrous associate of Carlos. So now, Ravi Kumar has to find a way to get the reel, steal the necklace, and save Madhubala. Yes, it sounds complicated, but if it had been easy, Ravi Kumar wouldn't have gotten involved.
I have a theory: Badass Ravi Kumar is a movie that exists within the fictional universe of The Xpose franchise. That is, it's a movie starring Ravi Kumar, the actor, just like The 14 Fists of McCluskey is a movie starring Rick Dalton. And the reason I think that’s the case is because this film opens with Ravi Kumar addressing an audience in a theatre who are in for the film, where he tells them to throw logic out the window and not worry about visual effects and other technical stuff. I might be wrong, but if you view Reshammiya’s story through this lens, the film feels like a meta-commentary on the current trends ruling the Hindi film industry.
I mean, in the last few years, we’ve had so many action films about angry law enforcers solving complex cases to save Mother India from total doom while courting every woman within a 100-mile radius and also being a responsible member of their family. Considering that The Xpose parodied Bollywood films from the 60s and commented on outdated themes and tropes, I don’t think it’s a stretch to claim that its spin-off is doing the same. They even got Manish Wadhwa, who has been cast to play stereotypical Pakistani army generals in Pathaan and Gadar 2, to play another crazy Pakistani military man! (Sort of) I have no doubt.
While my tinfoil hat theory may sound interesting and allow viewers to see the badass Ravi Kumar in a new light, I have to ask: is it enough to be self-aware in 2025, when the landscape is littered with meta-movies? Even if you only watch Bollywood movies, you'll see stars referencing things from their own filmography as well as their personal lives in an attempt to give the audience a chance to do the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme and forget that the plot and filmmaking are atrocious. And if you extend your horizons to Hollywood, it's an even bigger mess, especially after the success of the Deadpool franchise, with actors sarcastically endorsing their own brands or addressing rumors and gossip through the script.
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