Baby Do Die Do Review: This Huma Qureshi Starrer Is All About A Cheesy Title, Convoluted Narrative & Lots Of 'Triggered Umbrellas'

Director: Nachiket Samant

Cast: Huma Qureshi, Sikander Kher, Chunky Panday, Seema Pahwa, Rachit Singh, Vidya Malavade, Himanshu Malik, Marudhar Shekhawat and Arun Kushwah

Where: In theatres

Rating: 1.5*

Touted to be a film about India’s first hitwoman, Huma Qureshi’s Baby Do Die Do’s hard-hitting trailers had really upped the excitement about the film. Will the film ‘do’ wonders at the box office or will ‘die’ a natural death at the box office is what remains to be seen.

The film starts off with a flashback about Baby Karmarkar (Huma Qureshi). By the way, the film’s title is inspired by Baby’s surname ‘Kar-Mar-Kar’, when translated in English means ‘Do Die Do’! The film is about Baby and her twin sister who gets brutally killed during childhood by an unknown man in a hotel room. Baby, who is deaf and mute, then, transforms herself into a hitwoman, under the (God)fatherly guidance of PM Jain (Chunky Panday), a contract killer. During all her missions, Baby is never seen without her weapon - her trigger-happy umbrella! 

With each passing day, Baby’s elimination of her targets equals to her father’s accumulation of wealth. One day, love enters her life in the form of Amandeep Singh Sidhu (Rachit Singh), who gets ready to marry Baby despite her handicaps. Will Amandeep ever get to know Baby’s reality, does Baby become successful in avenging her sister’s murder and most importantly, is Baby more than what meets the eye is what gets unfolded as the film progresses.

Actors' Performance

Giving the devil its due, one needs to acknowledge Huma Qureshi’s dedication towards the role, which is tailor made for her. The problem begins when her character starts developing, the flawed and convoluted narrative (Nachiket Samant, Gaurav Sharma) overshadows that, which remains till the end. Despite all that, Huma’s commanding screen presence demands your attention. With this, she proves that she is quite capable of shouldering a film entirely on her shoulders.

For reasons best known to the filmmaker, Rachit Singh is shown as a Sardar, which is not at all ‘asardaar’. He hardly gets any platter to showcase his skills as an actor. Donning an attire of a builder, does not make you one… Sikandar Kher needs to understand that, who is just not convincing in his role, unlike the veteran actress Seema Pahwa who is flawless despite her limited screen time. Marudhar Shekhawat too falls in the same bracket.

Actors like Vidya Malavade, Himanshu Malik and Arun Kushwah are purely wasted. Speaking of Himanshu Malik, one does feel sorry for him for having chosen such a role. He is the same stud dude who had become the national crush with his role in films like Tum Bin. But, with a role in Baby Do Die Do, he seems to have crushed that image. All that, one feels like asking him is “Himanshu babu, aisi kya majboori thi..”! Veteran actor Chunky Panday’s character seems to be openly challenging the script in terms of who is more convoluted than the other!

Direction, Music And Aesthetics

After having made films like Single Salma, Habaddi, Comedy Couple, Gachhi (Marathi) and others, Nachiket Samant tried to hit it big with Baby Do Die Do. The sad part is that, he fails miserably as a filmmaker. In an attempt to make the film into a masala fare, he has tried to infuse as many characters and plots in the narrative, which plays the villain more than the film’s villains!

One really fails to understand the reason why he gave so much importance to unwanted aspects than purely focussing on building up Huma’s character. He had a beautiful thought and plot of India’s first hitwoman, but, sadly, that takes a hit with his flawed direction. We agree that Huma’s brother Saqib is the film’s producer. But, making him do a cameo in a ‘only male club’ (IYKYK), was the most unwanted thing to do.

If that was not torturous enough, Saqib is seen performing to a track called as ‘Alpha Q’ (Again, IYKYK!). So much for the filmmaker’s obsession with Alpha, which also happens to be the title of the Alia Bhatt’s film releasing alongside Baby Do Die Do. One look at the comments section of Baby Do Die Do’s trailer, it looks like a paid army who are out to put down the Alia Bhatt’s Alpha and make Huma’s film a winner!

As for the film’s music (Arun Iyer), it’s totally hard on the ears and gets totally thrusted in the film. The film’s editing (Nikhil Parihar, Ashish Tripathi) compounds this issue. Many (and we mean it) there are many scenes in the film that could have been simply chopped off, which could have made the film watchable. But sadly…

FPJ Verdict

While we credit and applaud Huma Qureshi for shouldering the film single handedly, the film does not qualify for a repeated viewing. But, for the die-hard Huma’s fans, here is a film that you all had been praying for and waiting for. But, for others... ‘sabr ka phal… OTT hota hai’!