Bawaal Review: Varun and Janhvi starrer delves into gruesome chapters of World War II, serves much more than romance

For a troubled married couple, an exotic honeymoon mostly tends to save their relationship. The narration could be simple and put seamlessly in 137 minutes, but when director Nitesh Tiwari is the captain of the ship, ‘Bawaal’ tends to happen. The inclusion of chapters from the world’s gruesome history–Second World War-to put across a point may seem quite far-fetched and odd for many, but efforts paid off. Though Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor starrer looms large in their marital life, the film enriches you with crucial life-learning keeping analogies with German dictator Adolf Hitler’s life—he may have died but a war still remains within us. 

Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s story gives room to understand several aspects of human nature, especially, of the average common man, who is racing behind in life. Then there is a representation of a society that feeds on ‘public image'. The tone is set right in the trailer itself where Ajay Dixit(Varun Dhawan), a school teacher, tells his friend Bipin(Prateik Pachori)–’mahaul aisa banao ki logon ko mahaul yaad rahe result nahi’. Ajay teaches history in a Lucknow school but maintains his merits with his shrewdness and fake stories. In the same way, he woos Nisha(Janhvi Kapoor), a daughter of a business-class family. 

In the beginning, the appeal steers down when a typical middle-class family structure is introduced. Ajay’s father (Manoj Pahwa), taunts him for being irresponsible while her mother (Anjuma Saxena) gets annoyed with his habit of eating out. However, the moment the screenplay goes on the toss, a twisted tale of marriage comes into place which keeps one hooked. While loose editing takes too much time to lay out the character structures, several loopholes creep in. Like how Ajay managed to remain in the principal’s (Shashi Verma)good books for so long, despite his shortcomings. Even very little effort is made to justify Nisha’s docile character shift to becoming a strong-headed woman. Hence negative marks definitely for a half-baked foundation. 

However, the director ably places his best cards in the second half. Ajay decides to teach his students the dark chapters of the Second World War, via video from Europe– which is the actual essence of the film. Right from the intense war sequence, Anne Frank's hiding place, gas chamber, and the world's largest concentration camp, extra points for the recreation of historical scenes. And their parallel representation with today’s time definitely supersedes the generic cinematic experience. A light comedy scene–where Ajay gets stuck in a musical show due to his stupidity is worth noting. Especially the ‘Pagol ho jaye’ song adds the right amount of humour. Exchanges between Ajay and a Gujarati tourist Kalpesh(Vyas Hemang), however, can be edited a little.

Talking about performances, Varun Dhawan pulls off both dramatic and vulnerable scenes with ease. He, however, may remind of his character in Badrinath Ki Dulhania, which had a similar character arc. Janhvi definitely upped her game and surprises in intense scenes. Prateik Pachori appears to have taken inspiration for his character from cartoon reels, therefore, looks over-the-top. Manoj Pahwa and Mukesh Tiwari lend great support to accentuate the film’s appeal with their seasoned acting.

Well, it would be wrong to put out that Nitesh hit the ball out of the park with Bawaal as he did with Dangal. However, Nitesh promises more than a love story, making the arc bigger and deeper for a romantic genre. The film potentially serves as a platter of entertainment laced with enriching content but in bits and pieces. For many, it may seem insensitive to reel the gruesome world events parallelly with a love story but the attempt is quite commendable. The movie is not a masterpiece but definitely worth a watch.