No matter how much hype it received or how big a star Akshay Kumar is , Boss had disaster written all over it from the word go. We have had a flurry of releases similar in nature and content to boss and none of it except Singham and Rowdy Rathore made a considerable impact. The reason is simple, both these films boasted of a serious track to play on with the humor and the obvious song and dance routines. These films also had fearsome opposition who refused to welt even under the extreme pressure from our good guys and for that matter turned over the heat on the good guys.
But in Boss we have a thirty something racketeer who is shown to be a contract killer for higher and yet is believed to be man with a heart of gold to go all balloon with his 
almost unbearable wisecracks and yet shrug off any opposition from the baddies without breaking a sweat. When he actually does break a sweat, it blossoms into a plant. That would easily be the most preposterous thing to have been imagined by a director for his hero ever. I mean what that predicament tells you about the metabolism of your hero??? Is he Edward Plant-Hands???
The film starts off with a young Boss, thrown out of his village because of his violent past and present, meeting Big Boss (Danny) on the day that is supposed to be the last day of Danny’s life and ensuring that it is not. As a reward, Big Boss takes him under his protection and names him Boss. Thus begins the story of Boss and Big Boss. 15 years later Boss becomes a messiah of the poor and yet a killer for higher living in houses as big as the victoria memorial and yet never being apprehended by the law enforcement authorities or even the government. What does that tell us about our law enforcement authorities?
But his blessed existence is soon challenged by none other than his own father who comes knocking at his door, when his brother Shiv(Shiv Pandit) is wrongly implicated in a crime that he had not committed by a ruthless cop Ayushman Thakur(Ronit Roy). She is romantically inclined towards his sister played by Aditi Rao Hydari whom Ayushman wants to marry off with a so called Home Minister’s son. Boss arrives in the thick of action and starts connecting back with his family before the obvious melodrama and expose once again ensure that the Boss is always right. Here the Boss is always left, right and center.
Rumored to be a remake of Pokkiri Raja, a Malayalam film, which almost goes by the same storyline, Boss is just as shallow and farce as it can be. With a non-existent storyline
and melodrama reminiscent of the 60s and 70s, it was a nonstarter from the beginning. The emotional scenes provide you with comic relief while the comic scenes ham endlessly. Mithun Chakraborty as the teary eyed father impersonating a la Rakhee or Nirupa Roy of the yester year Maa’s overdoes his act by miles. His scenes are sure to bring out the chuckles. On the other hand, Johnny Leaver’s buffoonery starts irritating you from his first act. Akshay is adviced in the beginning by Big Boss to do bash up his foes with a smile but he takes his words too seriously for the liking of the audience. He makes a joke out of everything that Boss is and he literally takes the steam out of the film. Putting in his own words, “Usse to bas Pani Nikal na tha”.
If there is a positive to take home from Boss, than that would be Ronit Roy as the evil Ayushman Thakur. Not only does he mouths the best lines of the film but also essays a character that is not unnecessarily funny. He is dead serious and drops guys like dead meat at the blink of an eye. He is clear in his monstrosity and does not shy away from it. His final showdown with Akshay though a tad bit lethargic still works well. This film should do a world of good for him. He looks polished and poised in a role that demanded him not loose himself in the midst of all the mess around him. He doesn’t. The well choreographed and ballistic action sequences would be the second plus for this film. The chase sequence between Akshay and a group of goons was one of the high points of the action sequences.
Boss is almost 2 songs too big and even after standing at around a 2 hours runtime; it feels more like a 3 hour long film. The
item numbers seem unnecessary and the lone song between Aditi and Shiv Pandit is sure to give you the hibiziwies. There is practically no feel for the role as far as both of them are concerned and they look terribly out of place. Danny is apt in his brief role while Mithun hams endlessly. Shiv Pandit is passable. Overall, Boss ends up being exactly what I expected it to be. A terribly executed and excruciatingly irritating two hours of amateurish filmmaking. It is reminiscent of exactly what its director achieved beforehand with the dreary Blue pronounced as BUUUUULOOOOOOO!!! Stay clear of Boss if you don’t want to hurt your ears and other sense organs…!
Ambar Chatterjee's Reviews 