Movie Review: ‘BAAR BAAR DEKHO’ (2016) – Religiously Karmic Time Travel Where Nothing Is Learned

I've maintained that Sidharth Malhotra is not a good actor. In his short career, debuting with 'Student Of The Year', Malhotra's roles have thus far highlighted his most appealing aspects, all of which are superficial. But it's not until 'Baar Baar Dekho' that the young actor has to shoulder a movie all on his own; and he fails miserably.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

'Baar Baar Dekho' has a plot very similar to the 2006 Adam Sandler starrer, 'Click'. However the science fiction plot device of a magical remote that causes the protagonist to skip through years of his own life, is exchanged for a more culturally relevant religious symbol that does, basically the same thing, but with less explanation.

When childhood sweethearts Jai (Sidharth Malhotra) and Diya (Katrina Kaif) finally decide to get married, Jai starts getting cold feet as the overwhelming rituals of his wedding begin to freak him out. Add to this that he gets a job offer in a different country, and our boy Jai is this close to bailing on Diya and their entire future together.

After a public freak out in front of the Hindu priest in charge of marrying them, Jai mysteriously embarks on a sort of time travel (or rather time-skipping) journey of his life where every time he sleeps, he wakes up years later to find his life in shambles with no explanation of where things went wrong during those missing years.

'Baar Baar Dekho' employs a very Hollywood story, but without establishing any rules about how the plot device factors into its story or plot points. The sci-fi elements, are never properly explained or even acknowledged, and Jai's actions as he's figuring it out, make even less sense.

Kaif: "I don't know you AT ALL!"
Malhotra: "I'm just trying to avoid eye contact."

The main conflict of the film is to have Jai figure out where things went wrong in his life, and fix them during his time jumps. But there seems to be no explanation of why he's jumping through specific moments in time in the first place. We get a lackluster quasi-rationale in the third act, about the universe essentially trying to 'teach him a lesson', which seems forced and un-earned. More importantly, it feels like an element in a movie, as if writer / director Nitya Mehra doesn't think it matters as long as the movie is fun and enjoyable. Which it's not.

When a movie introduces an science fiction-y idea, there should be some exposition about  how it works, so that the conflict can be based around that idea's limitations and rules. The lost alien ship's remote control in 'PK'.  The invisibility watch in 'Mr. India'. All ideas introduced with set rules what they do and why they're important. Without explaining why or how Jai is travelling through time, 'Baar Baar Dekho' feels like it's making things up as it goes.

Compounding a weak and inexplicable story is a similarly weak performance by Malhotra, on whose shoulders the entire movie rests. Majority of Malhotra scenes call for him to be perplexed while not showing it, loving in the face of clear resentment and ignorant to years of baggage. It's a nuanced role that required a lot of depth and range of emotion on the actor's part; something Malhotra has never had.

Watching Malhotra try to emote is like watching a deer trying to butter a fresh Croissant. It's awkward, messy and pityful. Jai spends most of the movie confused, helpless and trying to figure where he is and what's happening around him; similar to his career in Bollywood.

Probably because nothing ever did...

While 'Baar Baar Dekho' is supposedly a love story at its heart, even those elements fall flat. There is as much chemistry between Katrina Kaif and Malhotra as there is between two good looking models who have never met doing a photo shoot for stock pictures for the empty picture frames at Walmart.

Diya seems shocked and surprised at Jai's life ambitions, and even more unaware of his very obvious discomfort with the wedding. While Jai's actions are inexcusible, Diya seems woe-fully ignorant of the emotions of the man she's apparently known since she was 8 years old.

Their 'childhood sweetheart' is also problematic, as Jai should've been very aware of her crazy family, wedding dreams, etc... if he's known and been in a relationship with her in some form since adolescence. Whereas their relationship in the film seems more like 1 to 2 years old, given that in around 15-20 odd years of being with one another, they've never discussed things that are essentially third date conversations.

Unfortunately this is another movie where Kaif is cast as the pretty face, mostly for the star value. It's a role that under utilizes even the acting talent of Kaif. Yes, she's shown she can act in many other roles, but the movie fails her completely. 'Baar Baar Dekho' is a completely superficial movie with no redeeming qualities. Well, maybe one.

This is literally the only reason Katrina was cast.

The entire film can be seen from a different perspective, if taken as an allegory for what an Alzheimers' patient has to deal with in their lives. While most stories of people dealing with such a disease comes from the perspective of others, this could be seen as from the victim's point of view. This would better frame the confusion Jai feels at every turn, his missing years, the loss of memory, the helpless-ness of not knowing his own life, the out of context frustration he sees in the eyes of his loved ones and everything else that occurs in the movie. But alas, this is just a hopeful internet theory.

'Baar Baar Dekho' is not a fun movie as marketed, nor do any of the fun songs make up for the completely dire and lackluster story taking place. The lead actors are terrible to watch on screen, making it impossible to root for them, or even be satisfied with the inevitable happy ending, which is as lacking in substance as everything that preceded it.

I only wish there was a pundit-ji who could help me travel back in time to avoid watching this movie.