Movie review 'Bhaag Johnny': A slow death for moviegoers

Director: Shivam Nair

Cast: Kunal Khemu, Zoa Morani, Mandana Karimi, Raja Virus

Stars: 1 star

There comes a time in your life when you have to choose between a road less travelled and a road you should definitely not take. With Bhaag Johnny it's the latter.

As soon as the film starts, poor cinematography and shaky camera shots pave the way for an impressive Kunal Khemu and less expressive Zoa Morani. Shot on the format of parallel storytelling, the film is all about Johnny’s whims and fancies granted by a Genie (Vikram Bhatt). Vikram makes his entry in a typical ‘Mumbaikar’ fashion into the frustrated Khemu's life. He grants him a choice of living two lives based on the decision he will make (after killing or not killing Tanya) for 72 hours and by the end of it he will get to choose the life he wants to lead.

As confusing as it may sound, the director simplifies it by splitting the screen in two for your convenience.

Moving on, Johnny aka Janardan Arora has been instructed to murder a girl named Tanya by his boss, the reason for which is the climax of the story and if he succeeds in doing so, then he will free himself from the perils of the boss as well as the sentence he would have to serve in jail for leaking official information of the company.

Johnny is contemplating the biggest decision of his life in a hotel room when poof comes in the genie sent by his mother from India to untangle the knots of the script for him. Oh, and did we mention that all of this is set against the backdrop of Thailand, where the police seem to be as inefficient as possible when it comes to catching hold of a most wanted criminal.

There’s love, there’s drama; you name it and they have it! Even the screen is split into two to show the incidents happening in the parallel storyline, quite conveniently.

In a story where good wins over evil, Bhaag Johnny doesn't do justice to the old wine in a new bottle theory; rather it beats around the bush until you get the pulse of what the director actually wants to say. All in all, Bhaag Johnny should be the last thing on your list if you’re planning on catching a movie this weekend.