The picture’s premise is strong. The setting is solid. The scam’s quite awesome. The friends make for quite a foursome. All are equally endearing. As are their antics. And then the screen flashes, Interval. Everything dopily goes down a slope thereafter, and onward to America, arrogance and all that jazz.

Badmaash Company is a proof that the Yash Raj Films formula is irrevocably broken. The posturing stars, snazzy styling, foreign locations, plastic textures and necessary dash of family values simply can’t cut it anymore. Badmaash Company is a staggeringly tedious film, which takes two hours and twenty three minutes to give us the moral science lesson that honesty is the best policy.

Badmaash Company may not be as buoyant as Bunty aur Babli, the original badmash couple in recent cinema, but it does make for some merry viewing.

It’s got a background score that sounds suspiciously like Ocean’s 11, a storyline with shades of 21, and clichés that you associate with a ‘Bollywood’ film. In spite of all that, Badmaash Company is immensely watchable. Without some inconsistencies and a little more imagination, it could have been a lot better.

Parmeet walks the tight rope of handling a complex subject and offering entertainment simultaneously, in his very first film. To his credit, the film has several poignant and enjoyable moments that catch you by complete surprise. While the film has it all — the writing has the power to keep the viewer hooked — the film has a handicap in the form of its second hour, especially the penultimate 25-odd minutes.

I mean, going to USA and starting a scam by teenagers who have just made two trips to Bangkok is unbelievable. These guys are not going to Bhuleshawar! And since when has it has been easy to ‘finger’ the Americans in their own backyard with no fear of the law. These and more such silly gags is what BADMAASH COMPANY is all about.

Bunty Aur Babli for dummies! I am sure that’s what the hard bound script of Badmaash Company must have read. Throughout the film, Shahid keeps crossing his fingers each time he wants something really bad. I did the same, hoping the movie works; sadly I just ended up with a bad sprain!

There’s little regard for suspense or audience sophistication needed in a con movie

Debut writer-director Parmeet Sethi (veteran actor most famous for playing the groom in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge) has made a crime fairytale with little plausibility and lots of gloss. Watch it if you must see sprawling mansions, overnight riches and glam clothes. And if you don’t mind if it all doesn’t make sense.

Badmaash Company is contemporary in that the protagonist is shown in grey shades instead of the stark moralistic caricatures that were shown in movies made in 90s. Most people of this generation will be able to identify with the clash of attitudes with the earlier generation, the burning ambition and quest for fame, power and money, the disillusionment and even the peace that the characters make with each other and their choices.

Despite the multiple issues that Badmaash Company seeks to address, it is quite light and easy to watch. Real-life witticisms like ethnic jokes, pop feminism and friendly banter (digs at movie stardom dreams) keep us grinning as the story unfolds.