The latest installment in the Baaghi franchise, "Baaghi 4," arrives not as an evolution of the action genre, but as a near-three-hour cinematic endurance test. The film is a baffling and mind-numbing spectacle, built around a story that collapses so rapidly it leaves no room for engagement, suspense, or logic. Despite its high-octane ambitions, the movie is ultimately an exercise in futility, a chaotic jumble of gravity-defying stunts, a nonsensical plot, and a shocking waste of a talented supporting cast, all of which crumbles under the weight of its own chaotic execution.
The film’s central premise is as bewildering as it is poorly executed. The story centers on Ronni (Tiger Shroff), who, after an accident, awakens from a coma to find that the love of his life, Alisha (Harnaaz Sandhu), may have only existed in his hallucinations. This confusing setup is used as a narrative crutch for a screenplay that feels perpetually adrift, unsure of what is real and what is not. The first half is a torturous exercise in ambiguity, where events unfold with no clear stakes, only for the film to later suggest that everything the audience has witnessed might have been a delusion. This narrative device isn’t clever; it’s a lazy abandonment of storytelling responsibility, rendering the entire first act pointless and alienating the viewer from the outset.
While the Baaghi name promises spectacular action, the sequences in this film are a prime example of style over substance. Each fight, leap, and slow-motion punch feels disconnected from the narrative, serving only to fill screen time rather than advance the plot or develop character. The choreography seems designed with a singular brief: to be longer and louder, with little regard for coherence or impact. After a point, the relentless barrage of purposeless violence becomes monotonous, and the audience is left with no reason to care who is fighting whom or why. The action, which should have been the film’s saving grace, instead becomes a tedious and repetitive element in an already floundering movie.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of "Baaghi 4" is its complete misuse of a capable supporting cast. Seasoned actors are relegated to thankless, poorly written roles that do a disservice to their abilities. Shreyas Talpade, the celebrated star of "Iqbal," is reduced to a generic hero’s brother, a role with no depth or consequence. Similarly, Sonam Bajwa, a revered performer in Punjabi cinema, is treated as little more than a prop to fuel the hero’s revenge arc. Even the formidable Sanjay Dutt, as the film's villain, appears lost and uninspired, forced to navigate a script that gives him nothing substantial to work with.
In her debut, former Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu is as expressive as a log of wood, delivering a performance that fails to make any impression, while Tiger Shroff himself continues to show no growth as a dramatic actor. His physical prowess remains undeniable, but his emotional expression is severely limited, making it impossible to connect with his character’s supposed turmoil. Ultimately, "Baaghi 4" is not just a bad film; it is a profound disappointment that strands its talented performers in a cinematic wasteland, leaving the audience to wonder what could have been.
· Incoherent Plot: The film’s narrative is a confusing mess, relying on a poorly executed hallucination plot device that makes it impossible for the audience to invest in the story.
· Purposeless Action: The action sequences, while visually elaborate, are narratively empty and repetitive, failing to serve the story or create any real stakes.
· Wasted Supporting Cast: The movie criminally underutilizes talented actors like Shreyas Talpade, Sonam Bajwa, and Sanjay Dutt, relegating them to forgettable and poorly written roles.
· Weak Lead Performances: Tiger Shroff shows no evolution as an actor, and debutante Harnaaz Sandhu delivers a weak performance, leaving the film with no strong emotional core.
