Squad movie review: Rinzing Denzongpa's debut is as laughable as Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon

1/5

Story:

A whole team comes together to save a child from being the target of Pakistani agents. Squad revolves around how Bheem (Rinzing Denzongpa) keeps this girl safe despite his insecurities.

Review:

Squad, as a film, focuses on the backdrop. Being an action film, it begins in a stereotypical manner of a helicopter and mysterious sound in the background as the camera pans to the landscape.

Of course, we are then introduced to the Pakistani camp and them selling drugs. Not one thing about the movie catches your attention or makes you feel the realism in it.

The makers have relied solely on the sound for the first few minutes of the film and it definitely does not work in their favour. The villain is introduced as a grey-eyed man. Even intense music could not make him look scary, let alone his poker-face dialogues which leave no impact.

Pooja Batra enters the scene out of the blue. She tries to blend in but thanks to the boring screenplay for five minutes straight, the actress can do the bare minimum to save the film. To make matters worse, the camera moves in different angles as Pooja is made to say each word slowly. The scene has a very poor execution, impacting even Rinzing Denzongpa's much-awaited entry in the film.

While you would expect Rinzing to enter while performing a high-action sequence, he simply twists a stranger's neck before making an entry. Thankfully, the makers have captured his good bits soon after. However, calling Rinzing an action star before he even gets into full-fledged action is definitely OTT. When Bollywood has Akshay Kumar or even Rizing's friend Tiger Shroff, the newbie still has a long way to go before earning the title of a star.

The stereotypes in Squad just don't seem to end. Rinzing is named Bheem because of his body structure. There is a whole track dedicated to that stereotype. Honestly, just when Rinzing starts to impress, the makers ensure something disrupts the script. Apart from the song, Rinzing is thrown back to the early 90s where the apparent villains fly off by his mere touch. This continues as Bheem and his team leave unharmed even while they stand just a mile away from a bomb.

Rinzing's anger looks more like a joke. He screams, not in anguish but to take a breather. Seriously, what was going on while making the film?

While the actor's action sequences can be credited in many places, it just appears clumsy in a few moments. You do not see the passion of a fighter that he usually has on the field while facing his enemy. With Squad, all of it appears forced.

Renzing's first-ever dialogue also fails to create a lasting impression. He appears to be using a different expression for the dialogue (using his upper lips to fold out as he speaks) with the antagonist which does not work a bit in his favour. The speech comes out normal when he talks to his team.

The acting is so monotonous and out of sync that it makes you question if the editing team was paid at all for the project. Rinzing shows a serious face when he should smile and vice-versa. He shows no connection with anybody on sets including Pooja. The stone face is quite a disappointment throughout the film. There is absolutely no way you can decipher his expressions other than a smile, poker face and a confused face. He carries the whole film with these three expressions. The actor tries an angry face but it shows no expression other than that.

The film revisits cliche dialogues but they happen to provide a relief when nothing else works. However, even then, the dialogues are narrated much after the scene is over, leaving no impact in the sequence. It gains some momentum when a baby is introduced to the movie. With Rushad Rana's 13-minute introduction, the film gains the lost momentum.

Pooja Batra's basic clothing sense in the coming scenes once again makes you question the basis of the film. She is very underdressed for the occasion, to the extent that her shirt also appears to not have been ironed. This works in contrast to her sharp personality.

Malvika Raaj has a better entry than even Rinzing. While she acts fairly well, Malvika too is a victim of weak direction.

It won't be wrong to say that Squad is the modern-day Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon, with Rinzing being ready for action no matter where he is. He lacks Hrithik's energy but the character is written on the same lines. In that sense, he brings Abhishek Bachchan's energy into the film. Mohan Kapoor is constantly hyper like Hrithik, even though he isn't the main lead of the film. Malvika, like Kareena (she even looks like Bebo), is overtly expressive (which is the only good part of the movie). She also tries to show she's in the army by wearing cargo pants even during casual meets. For the uninitiated, Kareena also stated the obvious every time in Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon. The makers were at fault there and are at fault even here. They have gone to the extent of playing Durga Kali when Malvika fights. How much more obvious does a scene need to be? The film even replaces the VFX parrot with cyborgs. While the parrot helped Prem and Sanjana unite, the cyborg brought the Squad together.

The songs have only two themes - either patriotic or seductive. They both are extreme and disturb the storyline and your mental state while trying to watch a movie with expectations of entertainment or at least a pinch of reality.

The movie turns slightly interesting as it comes to the end. However, it isn't unexpected or surprising. The final song tries to be on the lines of Bolo Har Har but is not even close.

Squad even has an actor playing Narendra Modi towards the end. In the climax, you wish to cry because it is an emotional scene but you end up crying anyway because you had to sit through the film.

Verdict:

Give yourself a break from this film. The actors can barely act, the story goes nowhere and there is nothing in the movie that can shake you. If you really want to watch this film, get sloshed and have a good laugh. Even then, we doubt you can sit through the entire movie.