Review : Heyy Babyy

Rating : Below average (2.8/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2007
Running time : 2 hours 25 minutes
Director : Sajid Khan
Cast : Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Reitesh Deshmukh, Vidya Balan, baby Johana

HEY BABYY : HAMMING IT UP !

Some time back Sajid Khan used to have this TV show called “Ikke pe Ikka”. It was this mad-cap show which looked like it was pretty adhoc and script-less. It featured Sajid and a host of other characters and Sajid’s trademark zany sense of humor. Sometimes dizzy, sometimes shitty, sometimes funny and sometimes not so much. He did whatever he wanted. “Hey Baby” seemed pretty much like the show – scriptless and adhoc.

Yes, yes, I know it’s inspired from the 1987 film “Three men and a baby”, and it does stick to the story atleast in the beginning. But, ah, problems begin when the director decides to go all original on us, and hands us some rather convoluted turns (coz we are desi and all, you know) in the second half. Oh, and also be prepared for the obligatory dose of desi emotion. However where I found the original film rather heartwarming, this one drags at places, especially at places where Sajid is unable to overcome his “me Tarzan – you Jane” attitude towards women in general.

Arush (Kumar), Ali (Fardeen), Tanmay (Riteish) are three desi Casanovas – you know the works – totally objectify women, sleep around with a host of women etc. And, yes, lest I forget they are all allergic to the concept of true love, marriage and commitment. The three live together, and amazingly hold down jobs, although whenever we see them they are either partying, stalking women or making asses of themselves.

Into this totally bindaas lifestyle, comes a baby, delivered to their door-step, with a note which tells them in none too polite a tone, to take care of their daughter. The question is who’s daughter is she ? At the rate at which the three have been, excuse the language, spewing their seed around, she could be either of the three’s.

The three used to their bachelor life-styles, take the baby in all right, but don’t know what to do with her. They don’t know what to feed her, have no clue that kids have excretionary functions too, and in short act like a bunch of retards. When with time, they finally learn how to take care of the kid, they are completely besotted with her, and turn into not only adoring Dads but good human beings (I’m rolling my eyes too, but what did you expect ?). Just as they are getting comfy with the fathering bit, in walks the irate mother, and she wants the kid back . . .

Frankly I found the film silly. The first half mainly deals with the happy-go-lucky lives of the three, and the impact of the kid on their lives. Even if we assume that men when faced with a baby turn into morons of the first order (and they do not I assure you), the film stretches this into such length that I’m longing for Sajid Khan to get a move on. The second half turns into sopping melodrama, which does nothing to better the film.

Plus I’m pretty sure that Sajid wrote some of the dialogues atleast . Sample a few : Child protective services worker saying to trio “I’ve heard you three have a baby and there is no woman in the house”. I didn’t know whether to laugh out loud or shake Sajid Khan until his teeth fell out. Then there is Tanmay (Riteish’s character) saying to baby, “First I was bad, now I am Dad”. Ewww – talk about cheesy ! You grit your teeth and move on. And then there is super-intelligent heroine Isha telling Arush : “How amazing ! We both live in Australia and never meet and we come to India and we meet.” Well, you know what Sajid ? Australia’s a rather large country.

However, kudos to the actors for doing a fairly decent job – Akshay with his comic flair, and Fardeen with his Anglicised side accentuated. Riteish is just himself which is good enough. Now, Vidya Balan, she displays star power. I cannot by any stretch of imagination call her thin, or even slim. All she has is fairly decent acting skills and a beautiful face, and she puts it to good use, as the baby’s Mom, carrying the film without revealing any of that famous skin. Quite Madhabala-ish, really.

Direction is decent, dialogues crappy, and songs good. This is Sajid’s contribution to the world pool of silliness, and I do hope he stops with this film – he’s done more than his fair share. The film abounds in Sajid-style toilet humor, and while slap-sticky, poop-in-the-face (literally) jokes might amuse the kids, the sexist references definitely won’t.

You might watch this film, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, when you hanker for a dumb, desi film along with that serving of pakoras. The pakoras better be good. Because the film – it ain’t.