The film Baby John has been released at a time when Pushpa 2: The Rule is ruling the box office. It is a remake of the 2016 film Theri starring Thalapathy Vijay, Samantha and Amy Jackson. The remake films Sarfira and Khel Khel Mein released this year did not do well at the box office. Baby John also fails to make an impact despite all the masala.

Theri was directed by Atlee who had made the masala entertainer Jawaan with Shah Rukh Khan last year. Now Atlee's assistant Kalis has taken over the direction of the film. While Atlee is in the role of producer this time. The film may be made in Hindi but it is full of South Indian masala. An attempt has been made to make it a little different from the original film by adding the angle of child trafficking in the film but this attempt has not been able to make the film interesting.

What is the story of Varun Dhawan's Baby John? 

The story is set in Kerala. John D'Silva (Varun Dhawan) lives with his daughter Khushi (Zara Jiana), dog Tiger and Ramsevak (Rajpal Yadav). In a dramatic turn of events, Khushi's teacher Tara (Vamika Gabbi) files a complaint at the police station. Actually, some goons are chasing a minor girl. Tara takes the girl to the police station. Jaan has to come to the police station even though he doesn't want to.

Some goons reach Jaan's house at night. When they talk about kidnapping Khushi, the real face of simple looking Jaan is revealed. He defeats all the goons. Tara comes to know that John is a former IPS. She asks Ram Sewak about Jaan's past. From there, the layers of John's life start getting revealed. John aka Satya Verma is a fearless police officer.

He had killed the son of Nana (Jackie Shroff), the kingpin of a girl trafficking gang, who had raped a minor girl. Burning in vengeance, Nana kills his wife (Keerthi Suresh) and mother (Sheeba Chaddha). Nana finds out about Satya living under a disguised identity. He comes back to ruin Satya's life, but will he succeed in his plans? This is what the story is all about.

Weak story, bad dialogues 

Viewers who have seen the original film Theri will be very disappointed to see Baby John . To make Baby John different from the original film, Kalis added the issue of girl trafficking in it, but he has not been able to include it in the story properly. Jackie Shroff's look as a villain is quite different in the film, but his character has not become strong.

In commercial films, unless the villain appears strong, the hero cannot recover. Here too, both Nana's portrayal and dialogue are weak. Because of this, the rivalry between Nana and John is not strong. The story takes place in Mumbai but it is difficult to recognize whether you are in Mumbai or somewhere else. The songs and dance tracks are completely mismatched.

You suddenly feel out of the world of the story. The biggest lack of the film is emotion. The climax has been adapted from the original film, but it is hurriedly done like the clichéd formula of Hindi films in which the hero first beats up and then kills the goons. In one scene of the film, Rajpal Yadav's character says that comedy is a serious business. He again proves that comedy is not everyone's cup of tea.

Varun Dhawan could not bring life into the role of DCP 

Varun has fulfilled his desire to do action on the big screen by working with a South Indian filmmaker for the first time. He looks good doing action. However, the status of a DCP is not reflected in his personality. He needs to work on his emotions. There is no excitement in his romance with Keerti Suresh who plays Meera, even though it is an exact copy of the original film.

This time, the character of Vamika Gabbi has been changed from the original film. However, that too is incomplete. She is after the smugglers but her character does not add much to the story. Her IPS training is limited to just one scene. The special attraction of the film is Zara Jiana as Khushi. She looks very comfortable in every scene. Cinematographer Kiran Kaushik has shown the beauty of South India very well through the camera.

There was a lot of scope to reduce the length of the film by removing unnecessary songs and unnecessary scenes. There is a cameo of Salman Khan at the end but even that fails to attract you. Varun Dhawan has a dialogue in the film that 'many like me must have come but I have come for the first time'. Thalapathy Vijay, who played this role before him, has already shown his strength. Varun looks pale in comparison to him.