The ugly concept of "morphing" finally arrives at the tinsel town with the release of 'Bad Friend' (BF). After the Manisha Koirala episode of "body double" ('Ek Chhoti Si Love Story') this is the second controversial phase in Bollywood where filmmakers are accused of jeopardizing the actress image. The controversial "body double" episode of Manisha Koirala created furor and curiosity among the audience that resulted in raising the film's above average box office collections. This time it has failed to trigger anything special since Meghna Naidu has been labeled as "bold" actress because of her previous performances. In a chat she has accused the filmmakers of 'BF' of "morphing" her image in the posters of the film for making it more sensuous and attractive. 'BF' comes as one of the last dosages of sex flicks after the disastrous failures of films like 'Bold', 'Sauda' and 'Rain'. Meghna's sensuous act in psycho-thriller 'Rain' went unnoticed and now all eyes are set on the least expected 'Bad Friend'. Its title makes it crystal clear that the film has the contents of deception, forgery and crime garnished with loads of skin shows.
The film brings in limelight new talents like Aditya Om who directs and forays the lead role in the film. Such films highlight the importance of the Bhatt camp for their brilliance in visualizing such concepts. The success of 'Murder', 'Jism' and 'Zeher' made them popular among small filmmakers. This has been the major reason for attracting small time directors and producers. A film like 'Bad Friend' underestimates moral ethics and encourages sleazy acts for making quick bucks.
Ironically, this year's collections have been disappointing for sex flicks and not much can be expected from this small budget skin shows. 'BF' derives its skin, structure and soul from Hollywood hit 'Shattered'. It may be noted that a similar script has earlier been witnessed in loosely conceived flick 'Yakeen'. It looks boring and stale as the audiences are served with the same dish again and again. The plot is wafer- thin but has been overstretched with wearing soundtracks, incompetent performances and shoddy screenplay.
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If 'Yakeen' that has acceptable faces like Priyanka Chopra has failed to impress audiences, then the producers cannot anticipate much success for this film. This deals with deception plan hatched by husband to physically eliminate his wife for wealth. The plan includes the subject of "amnesia" (loss of memory) and kidnapping in a weird manner. Director Girish Dhamija's concept ('Yakeen') has the technical expertise with some acceptable performances but debutante Aditya has reduced it to a distasteful skin show. 'Bad Friend' will be better known for the depiction of physical assets of Meghna Naidu, Shweta Menon and newcomer Pooja Bharathi than anything else. Debutante director Aditya Om has introduced Aditya in the leading role opposite these three glam dolls.
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The film revolves around the happily married couple Aditya Malhotra (Aditya Om) and her singer wife Sargam (Meghna Naidu). Aditya is overambitious and desires to attain huge wealth and power by all means. His life is centered on wine, women and wealth and that makes him dangerous. Aditya is well established criminal lawyer and runs his practice successfully in an urban city. Sargam is the most desirable and saleable singing celebrity. She has gained monumental name and fame for herself and this makes Aditya greedy. Shriya (Pooja Bharathi) is a bar girl trapped in the murder of lecherous Shetty (Rami Reddy). She is successfully rescued by Aditya. Shriya falls for the physical charms of Aditya and tries to seduce him. Initially, Aditya avoids but gets attracted to her and shares physical relationship with her. Aditya along with Shriya hatches a plan to eliminate Sargam to acquire her wealth. Life swings upside down when Aditya's car plummets from hillside. He loses memory but his life is saved. Sargam tries hard in making things normal for Aditya. Shriya disguises herself as documentary maker and plans to reside with Sargam and Aditya. Shriya tries to seduce Aditya and blackmails about her relationship with her. The cat and mouse game goes on at Aditya's place. Woman cop Shweta (Shweta Menon) suspects something deceitful and plans to investigate it. She unearths Aditya's evil plans and truth gets unveiled on Sargam's birthday. It was actually Aditya and Shweta plan to eliminate Sargam and Shriya! In the end, Aditya meets gory end and Sargam rescues herself from his trap.
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The film focuses more on sensuous scenes and hip-shaking dance sequences than the actor's performances. Debutante director and actor Aditya Om is the biggest appointment of the film. On the acting front he lacks the physical charms of Bollywood hero. The face and body language are out of tune in emotional scenes. Aditya overacts and sometimes under acts in sentimental scenes and his naivety shows it all. The choreography has been reduced to hip-gyrating movements and cleavage shows. Aditya's dancing abilities are dreadful and are completely avoidable. Meghna Naidu disappoints this time as the audience's "eager anticipation of sex" may not be satisfied. The explicit film poster depicts Meghna's biggest body show but it doesn't. This time she loses this battle to newcomer Pooja Bharathi. In fact, Meghna has tried to show his different aspects with some impressive sentimental scenes. The prolonged love scene is the only anticipated sequence otherwise the film bores with undesirable songs and pathetic script and screenplay. The overweight Meghna fails to impress and after 'Rain' this is another failure for her.
Pooja Bharathi has showed "boldness" like any other bold actress in displaying her physical assets. Pooja role in 'Bad Friend' strikes similarity with Neha Dhupia dumb and deaf role in 'Sheesha'. Shweta Menon has been reduced to one song wonder with some five minute role. The supporting cast hardly impresses with some new set of acting talents hitting the marquee. Nikhil-Vinay's music disappoints and irritates. The long song sequences retard audience's interest in the film. No song makes any impact and makes it one of the least heard compositions from this music duo. Cinematography by Jawahar captures breathtaking locations of Thailand in sensuous soundtracks. Aditya Om's direction needs a lot of attention in all departments. The characterization lacks sufficient screenplay and dialogues. The choice of director casting himself in the lead role has completely failed. The overstretched narration nullifies the spine chilling effect. The film leaves no mark on the audience.
It may be recalled that in the past too, the producers have created hype for film's publicity. But the gimmicks haven't worked every time and this time the sex gambit has misfired. The alleged "morphing" in films posters hasn't helped either. The film neither offers such scenes nor had oodles of sex scenes. 'Bad Friend' is a conventional bold film that shoulders on kissing, extra-marital affairs and unimpressive acting performances. It can be said that the bad films hardly make audiences their friends.
