Badass Ravi Kumar Review: A Mad Joyride That Marks Himesh Reshammiya’s Transition To Lord Himesh

Last Updated:February 07, 2025, 12:30 IST

Badass Ravi Kumar Movie Review: Kudos to Himesh Reshammiya for his off-the-road audaciousness! He knows what he’s doing and is completely unapologetic about it.

Badass Ravi Kumar Movie Review: There’s only one way to describe Himesh Reshammiya’s comeback vehicle, Badass Ravi Kumar. The experience it evokes is akin to everything you go through when you sit on a long, meandering, bumpy rollercoaster ride at an amusement park. Despite nausea trying to get the best of you, you’ll find yourself letting go and laughing with enviable abandon. But, well, a rollercoaster ride doesn’t happen every day, and you have to make do with the pothole-filled roads of Andheri West. And Badass Ravi Kumar is just that. It embraces its potholes and offers a truly thrilling, elevated ride.

At the outset, the makers establish that the film is all about ‘badass logic and logic is optional’ in bold, flashy letters. It’s a spoof. It’s a parody. It’s massy. It’s swaggy. It’s mad fun. The film opens with a sequence in 1959 when a young Ravi is fascinated with cigarettes. When he goes to try one, his elder brother Sooraj reprimands him and makes him promise to never smoke again and if he doesn’t obey him, Sooraj shall die. Years later, this young Ravi grows up to be a daredevil cop, who often refers to himself as ‘aandhi’. In the second sequence, the action shifts to Oman in 1989 where we come to know that Badass Ravi Kumar will chronicle a clash between a ‘jaanbaaz nayak’ and a ‘tehshatwaar khalnayak’.

This khalnayak is Carlos Pedro Panther, a powerful mafia don. His introduction scene is truly one for the books. He jumps out of a chopper and lands on a desert somewhere in Oman. He says ‘Taj Mahal ki kasam’ and is accompanied by an entourage comprising of gun-wielding Caucasian women dressed up in kameez and dupatta (sans salwar), a few henchmen and a tarot card reader dressed like a maharaja from the olden times. It’s important to note here that Carlos has an interesting fashion sensibility – he is wearing a three-piece red suit and a pair of dazzling gold shoes. When one of his henchmen calls him a ‘power broker’, he shoots him down. When another gives him a title that impresses him, he still shoots him down, because why not?

It’s here that the crux of the story is established. An American don has gotten hold of a micro reel that carries information pertaining to the espionage network of India. Before these details are leaked which can prove detrimental to the safety and security of the country, the Indian Interpol is tasked with bringing it back. However, the power-hungry desh drohi Carlos is secretly working with Jagawar, a corrupt official, and Laila, a ‘chaalak lomdi’, who has her vested interests, to make sure that the Interpol doesn’t get hold of the reel. The Interpol assigns Ravi, a suspended cop, to crush the trio and retrieve the reel.

Amid all of this, we get a glimpse of Ravi’s love life. Caught in a love triangle, he’s in love with Madhubala but she has been ordered by her evil sister Laila to stay away from Ravi. The real reason behind this is that Laila too loves Ravi. Ravi’s chemistry with Madhubala is palpable in a love ballad titled Terre Pyaar Mein (remember Surroor?). But tread with caution as the jarring 360-degree camera spin that perhaps serves as a device to highlight the erratic nature of their love story, may make you feel dizzy. But who cares when you’ve the unmissable Himesh Reshammiya single-handedly trying to revive Bollywood in his own indulgent way, right?

His introduction is even more epic. He rises from an inferno, wielding a gun and smoking an unburnt Gold Flake. As fireworks continue behind him and cars fall and fly, he comes to the foreground like a true hero. He’s Lord Himesh. He’s immortal. Nothing and nobody can kill him. A true blue Robinhood, he ends up wherever injustice takes place. Be it rape or extortion, Ravi comes to the rescue. And he mouths the most entertaining and masaale-daar dialogues. He introduces himself to the bad guys by saying, ‘Tu bade hoke bigda hoga, main bachpan se hi kharaab hoon’. In another scene, he says, ‘Kundli mein shani aur ghee mein honey, tabyat ke liye hanikarak hai’.

In Oman, he intimidates Carlos’ right-hand guy by stating, ‘Jo Ravi Kumar se ulajta hai, uske photo mein haar lagta hai’. To another, he says, ‘Tera jhooth ka parda jis din faash hua, tera naam Satya nahi, Ram naam satya hoga.’ Dialogue writer Bunty Rathore truly deserves to take the trophy home. And kudos to Himesh for his off-the-road audaciousness! Who would have thought of an Xpose Universe! He knows what he’s doing and is completely unapologetic about it. He doesn’t even try too hard. Badass Ravi Kumar may be an ode to the commercial action potboilers of the 1980s but if you look closely, our larger-than-life heroes are still pretty much the same. They all suffer from saviour complex and soft masculinity offends them.

There’s no room for grey in Badass Ravi Kumar. Either people are too good or an epitome of the evil. Gun-wielding working women are femme fatales. While the saree-clad gharelu ones are too naïve. But the one thing that takes us back to the 1980s is the static manufactured background against which many action events unfold. The one thing that will grab your attention is Himesh’s hair that is always perfectly in place, irrespective of which way the wind blows. To top it all, Himesh milks the recall value of Hookah Bar with Hookstep Hookah Bar and Tandoori Nights with Tandoori Days. Dil Ke Taj Mahal Meinn also deserves a special mention.

Badass Ravi Kumar promises truckloads of laughter and awkwardness—and boy, does it deliver! You’ll find yourself cackling and cracking up throughout. It more than makes up for the gap left by the lack of genuinely funny comic capers. A special shout-out to actors like Saurabh Sachdeva and Rajesh Sharma for believing in Himesh’s vision and playing their parts with great spirit. The women, particularly Kirti Kulhari and Sunny Leone, deserve applause. They’re not only steaming hot but also shrewd, ambitious, and unafraid to ask for what they want, even if it means bending their morals.

As for Prabhu Deva, he appears tailor-made for the role of Carlos Pedro Panther. His action sequences are deliberately projected like a freestyle choreography. His banter with Himesh’s Ravi almost feels like a jugalbandi or a fun roast session that can even give India’s Most Latent a run for their money. Badass Ravi Kumar defies logic and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Is it a jibe at Bollywood’s genius filmmakers making big promises but still under-delivering? Who knows! All you need to know is that you’ll regret not watching Badass Ravi Kumar on the big screen. Leave everything and run to the cinemas!