‘Babli Bouncer’ Review – Bubbly Light Entertainer

By Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

We’ve had enough onscreen Bollywood ‘heroes’ riding bikes, chasing women, beating up goons and saving the day, but flip the genders and you get ‘Babli Bouncer’, a breezy story with its share of silly cliched bits.

Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, the 2022 film stars Tamannaah Bhatia as lead protagonist Babli, a class 10 fail tomboy from a village in Haryana, whose only ambition in life is to marry and have kids. But when she falls in love with the village teacher’s son Viraj (Abhishek Bajaj), a polished educated young man working in New Delhi, Babli takes up a job in the city to impress him.

The soundtrack ‘Babli Bouncer’ is very forgettable, only the nightclub music is all right because Bhandarkar uses hits from his own old films, like ‘Jalwa’ from Fashion. Tamannaah Bhaita is bubbly and lovable as the confident, physically strong Babli, who becomes a bouncer in a night-club and unabashedly woos Viraj in her own little ways. Priyam Saha and Sahil Vaid are endearing as Babli’s friends Pinky and Kukku.

What begins as a love story, morphs into a plot about Babli finding her own feet in the big city, so we get a few misadventures and mishaps at the club. However, Bhandarkar and team romanticize her journey, giving the protagonist an easy, hero-like journey. Due to this, the second-half becomes too contrived and Viraj’s role nose-dives into being an idiot. Thankfully (for the viewers), the ending ends on a light note, instead of closing on a forced dramatic note.

It’s a 6/10 from me. You can stream it on Disney Hotstar.