Being once again a South remake of a Malayalam Hit POKKIRI RAJA (2010), the fact gets proved repeatedly that the Regional Cinema in India is much ahead than the Hindi Film Industry by miles, when it comes to pure commercial, action packed entertainers. Strengthening the fact, BOSS begins impressively with an action packed sequence featuring Danny and the new kid (playing the young Akshay). The start sets the mood rightly but then takes too much time to introduce the real BOSS. However once Akshay enters the screen after almost 30 minutes like a storm, the pace returns back and his entry (with the credits) just remind you the old school pattern followed by Manmohan Desai and Subhash Ghai, who also preferred bringing in their Hero after a while with a killer sequence.
Having a seen before yet engaging story to tell, BOSS offers a fine build up in its initial hour with enough material for the single screen regions full of comedy, action, emotion and music. The interesting clashes between the characters keep the energy moving and the viewers are just eager to see Akshay meeting the cunning Police officer Ronit Roy in the next scenes.
Now usually a Hindi film drops hugely post intermission which is thankfully not the case with BOSS. The film keeps offering many well written and entertaining sequences in its second half which basically becomes its real winning card in the end. Actually many impressive sequences in the film don't let you rate it as an average film and that is the reason it turns out to be much more than an average entertainer. The screenplay takes good care of a constant flow of energy and doesn't let any dull moment to be there spoiling the whole game. Cinematography captures the fun & light feel of the movie superbly (with some great locations) and so does the background score which plays a major role in keeping you excited.
In India, a hit soundtrack is considered as half the battle won quite rightly. So as required the title track "Boss" becomes a perfect song to run in the background and "Hum Na Chhoren" has full energy in its choreography performed well featuring cameos by Prabhu Deva and Sonakshi Sinha. The major hit "Party All Night" (with the controversial word muted) further lifts your spirits up in the final hour easily and you can clearly hear the cheers once the current musical sensation Honey Singh comes on the screen, delivering his famous rap. Other than these Hits, there is a downer too in its soundtrack, which is a pathetic version of famous "Har Kisi Ko Nahin Milta Yahan Pyar" from JANBAAZ (1986). And I really fail to understand, why they try to recreate these old musical gems when they don't exactly know how to treat them with any similar kind of love, care and emotion.
Anyway, apart from the already famous songs, the greatest contribution of BOSS's soundtrack in my opinion is its rare, well thought of and soulfully penned song on "A Father" or "Pitaah", soulfully sung by Sonu Nigam. A song talking about a person, on whom you don't find many songs made in the history of Hindi Film Music in the recent past.
Looking at the project from the direction point of view, it's a strong comeback film for Anthony D'Souza after his last huge debacle. May be the reference point of the original worked here in his favour but the way he perfectly balances his both halves with the right insertions, it seems that he has positively moved on and has learned his lessons well. In the performances, here is a new, fresh or rather good old Akshay Kumar back in form as an all rounder entertainer and this is a rare Hindi film wherein the main hero doesn't have a heroine to romance.
Further in one of the best chase sequences filmed on actual locations, Akshay evidently shows that he is in fact the most physically fit actor in the Industry at the present, among his contemporaries. Mithunis simply outstanding as the father, following the path of honesty and Danny is a delight to watch, like always. Ronit Roy makes the best use of this grand opportunity given in a noteworthy, impactful manner and Shiv Pandit shows his yet to be tapped talent brightly. Aditi looks charming but has nothing to do as per the script. Johny Lever, Govind Namdev, Parikshit Sahni and Sanjay Mishra are fine but its Aakash Dabhade, who superbly adds to the comic element of the film along with Akshay. Besides Sudesh Berry, Mukesh Tiwari and Shakti Kapoor are just there for only one scene.
Coming out of the praising mode, BOSS has many unwanted and avoidable elements too which could have been left out to give it a better and universally appealing feel in totality. Firstly, there is big loop hole in the film dealing with the unintentional murder in the initial reels, for which the culprit is never booked by the law and he keeps moving freely. Secondly certain things are just added illogically in the film, like there was no need of Aditi to appear in a two piece costume which doesn't suit her shy & introvert character from any angle. Shakti Kapoor is brought in as a plumber just for nothing and then there are few double meaning dialogues added quite carelessly to cater a different section of viewers.
Nevertheless, ignoring the above loopholes in this otherwise enjoyable flick, I would like to add that if you truly love the 70s-80s old school feel of Hindi Cinema, full of masala entertainment & heroism, then BOSS is surely going to win you over largely. The film is well equipped with full on entertainment in WANTED style, so do give it a try and the chances are that you would not be disappointed, despite all the negative vibes.
