Bambai Meri Jaan Review: Kay Kay Menon & Avinash Tiwary Are Busy Being The Heroes But Gangster Drama Fatigue Kicks In Too Soon

Cast: Avinash Tiwary, Kay Kay Menon, Kritika Kamra, Jitin Gulati, Saurabh Sachdeva, Nivedita Bhattacharya, Vivan Bhatena, Aditya Rawal, and ensemble.

Creator: Shujaat Saudagar & Renzil D’Silva.

Director: Shujaat Saudagar

Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video.

Language: Hindi (with subtitles).

Runtime: 10 Episodes, Around 50 Minutes Each.

Bambai Meri Jaan Review: What’s It About:

A righteous police officer comes to Bombay in the mid-sixties with his three sons and his wife expecting their fourth child. Little does he know that his secondborn is actually growing up to be the King Of Bombay, ruling the gangster nexus he has been fighting against all his life.

Bambai Meri Jaan Review: Script Analysis:

Bambai Meri Jaan is inspired from Hussain Zaidi’s Dongri To Dubai, which revolves around the most wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim. The D Company and what it did to the city has been explored multiple times, but the dramatization and the hero-like treatment has always overpowered the realness of those stories. Does this new Amazon show that expects you to invest 10 hours saves itself from the fatigue?

Almost every nerd into crime thrillers have read Dongri To Dubai, a book that establishes the uncrowned King of the Bombay Underworld. A man who literally rose from the dirt and made a kingdom out of it. Ismail Qadri (Kay Kay) even says something to the effect of “Usne paise se gutter saaf nahi kiya, usne sone ka gutter bana diya.” So is it easy to not look at a man like this as a hero? Well, Shujaat Saudagar and his co-writers Renzil D’Silva and Sameer Arora know how to walk past that. The clever approach this story takes us making the father the main character of the story and making him narrate his life and always look down upon Dara (Avinash). This helps in reminding the viewer that no matter how much Dara (you know who) seems like a hero in some sequences, he is still an arrogant man making wrong decisions and doing illegal things.

The power of Bambai Meri Jaan is this awareness that manages to create some very good grey characters. While it does make Dara the King and makes him demand respect and snatch it if not given, but the way it builds the secondary world is interesting. Saddique (Jitin) is a character that gets one of the most interesting arcs. As the elder sibling who was made to take the lesser fruit always, he grows up as a raged man who seeks first-hand things. He grows so well on the screen, alongside their mother.

But Bambai Meri Jaan suffers from the Gangster Drama Fatigue when it decides to get into full throttle. The first thing that triggers the fatigue is the structure that resembles many projects that came before on the same lines. Also, because the particular gangster that inspires Dara on paper has been so many times played and written on screen that, you are prone to draw similarities. The blueprint of the show thus feels the same like many others. A man born to the have-nots of society, grows to choose the wrong side to make things right, is motivated by an accident that shatters him, and boom! He becomes the king. This ends up making Bambai Meri Jaan look not as fresh as the makers intend it to.

Even Dara’s transition is so quick, and the process is so not visual that the impact of him finally becoming the King never lands like it should. What lands is Habiba (again, you know who she is) taking the throne and looking at Bombay as the new queen. Because while in the background, she was busy showing the shades of her finally becoming what she does in the end.

Bambai Meri Jaan Review: Star Performance:

Coming out of the same mill shows like Made In Heaven, Dahaad, and others have, Bambai Meri Jaan hits gold in terms of casting. It is fascinating to me, and I am sure many of us, how Kay Kay Menon is busy re-establishing himself as the hero with each project and also never compromising on the content and arc of his characters. Ismail Qadri seems tailor-made for an actor of his calibre as his blows life into him. For a part that is narrating this story and even drives it for the most amount of it, the actor does complete justice. He makes the silences uncomfortable with the chaos that is in his head, and even his eyes become a different character after a point.

Avinash Tiwary has two releases this week, both under the crime thriller genre. By playing Dara, he is playing a character supremely close to a man who has lived and done all of those things for real. Every actor who has attempted playing Dawood Ibrahim-like characters on screen have been not just ideologically overshadowing the content, but even physically giant enough to make you fear. Tiwary is the complete opposite, because he isn’t a giant chiseled man with bulging muscles who can beat someone to pulp, but a layman who is clever. He plays the part and the transition pretty well.

Jitin Gulati is such a talented actor. For someone who has a very well-edged character at hand, it is important that he does justice, and the actor manages to prove himself. It’s one of the most interesting stand-out parts this season (yes, the end feels like there is a season 2). Nivedita Bhattacharya is another stand-out as she plays the mother. An actor who has been around for decades doing roles that went unnoticed, now is her time.

Kritika Kamra takes a whole lot of effort into shaping Habiba and showing her transition. We have already seen a version of this character played by Shraddha Kapoor. Kamra still manages to make Habiba her own. Even Saurabh Sachdeva serves as a balanced silent player as Haji (you are smart by now).

Bambai Meri Jaan Review: Direction & Music:

Shujaat Saudagar (Rock On 2) does create some exciting moments with his direction. Young Dara’s parents being happy about his reading out an entire English headline from a newspaper, the bond Dara and his sister Habiba shares, her taking the throne, the father dying breath by breath, looking at the wild circus unfolding, a funeral shot. It all adds to the good part of this experience and takes your attention away from the repetitiveness and similarities of the show. But Shujaat’s direction also takes cues from the dramatic gangster dramas we have seen over the years, which also doesn’t help much.

The art design is brilliant, and so is the background score, which is done perfectly and in the correct amount. While some looks are too contemporary for the era the show is set in, the team does manage to create the vibe.

Bambai Meri Jaan Review: Last Words:

Bambai Meri Jaan is a mixed bag but also not one that should be ignored. Watch it for the novelty and good performances.

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