Movie Reviews

Baaz - A Bird in Danger

Producer: Tinnu Verma
Director: Tinnu Verma
Starring: Jackie Shroff, Karisma Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Dino Morea, Preeti Jhangiani, Aditi Govatriker
Release Date – February 07, 2003

SYNOPSIS - A gritty suspense thriller, Baaz: A Bird in Danger revolves around a pretty interior designer Neha Chopra and her three admirers.

Neha comes to Nainital on her first assignment to design and decorate a lavish bungalow for Jai Singh Dabhral (Jackie Shroff), the suave and eccentric mayor of Nainital.

Dabhral is an eccentric man intoxicated with his wealth and riches. A man with psychotic streak, Dabhral believes that money can buy anything in this world.

Another one of Neha’s admirer is Harshvardhan (Sunil Shetty), the local police officer who takes sadistic pleasure in stalking the people he is meant to protect. Giving him company is the glamorous lady cop Preeti Rastogi (Preeti Jhangiani). Together the duo is on the hunt for a killer who is at large.

Neha’s third admirer Raj Singh (Dino Morea) is a carefree man with an easy-come-easy-go attitude. Raj is a freelance photographer who is chased by police on the suspicion of being Jack the Ripper when he is not clicking beautiful women or judging beauty pageants.

Of her three admirers, Neha falls for Raj. But doing so she unwittingly becomes the target of a killer (presumed to be one of the other two) who is on the loose.

Baaz is partly different from other films as all the leading male characters in the film are imbued with shades of gray.

I didn’t have a lot of expectations for “Baaz” but the star cast did seem interesting.  Jackie Schroff, Suniel Shetty, Dino Morea, and Karishma Kapoor.  I’ve seen Suniel and Karishma paired up before but I was surprise to see Dino and Karishma paired up in this movie.  He’s still consider a newcomer since he only had three previous releases – “Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi”, “Raaz”, and “Gunaah.”  However, on screen, he does look good with Karishma. 

Everyone knows that Jackie Schroff can act.  He is just playing more mature type of roles lately.  No one can forget his memorable films such as   His role in “Baaz”was nothing spectacular.  Of course there is nothing wrong with Jackie’s acting.  I just felt a talented actor like him was wasted in a dumb role.

Suniel Shetty has improved his acting over the years.  From Mohra to Dhadkan to    , this action star can do more various roles just like the other action stars such as Ajay Devgan and Akshay Kumar.  He may not be as good as them yet but he does have the potential to be that good or even better.  I have to admit that I don’t usually run to go see his films but I do watch them if the storyline sounds interesting.  Suniel acted good in the movie and has already proved his acting.

 Many people have stated that Dino isn’t one of the best actors but is very good looking.  Of course, why not?  He is one of the top ramp models.  Plus he is also half Indian/half Italian.  His other films haven’t been very impressive and with the last two, his co-star Bipasha took most of the credit.  His acting has improved in each film.  He hasn’t done an impressive job but it is improving.  “Baaz” is his best acting till date.  He just needs a good role.  The other movies he had, his roles were very minimal and restricted.

Karishma Kapoor looks great in the movie.  She’s made such a change in her choices of films since “Fiza.”  From commercial films to more arty films, Karishma seems to be appreciated more by others.  With doing this, she even looks better in each one of her films.  I like the new approach that she is taking.

Preeti Jhanigiani laid low after “Mohabbatein.”  With a very short guest appearance in ”Na Tum Jano Na Hum” to another small role in “Awara Paagal Deewana,” many would expect to see more of her films since she seemed to stole the limelight from the other two ”Mohabbatein” girls – Shamita Shetty & Kim Sharma.  Everyone seemed to love that simple, Indian girl next-door look verus the sexy, more showy looks that the other two have.  With “Wah Hai Tere…,” she came back and looked great but her role didn’t require any real acting.  I felt that same way with her role in “Baaz.”  She did good on her part but she could’ve had a better role.  Maybe after time, she will be given the right role.

Storyline isn’t steady.  The beginning was really good and had me wondering about the movie.  It’s just later that the story falls apart confusing the viewers what the story actually is about.  There are scenes that you wonder what happened or did it happen or was it just a dream.  It got to crazy.  With Karishma’s entrance to the film, she confused the viewers more since the purpose of the movie lost its pace.  I understand her role in the movie but there were too much that wasn’t focused or was the focus was on the wrong thing.

Overall, Baaz had an interesting start but failed to stay that way towards the end.  It falls below average.

NiCKi