The Big Bull Movie Review Unexpected Scam | PP Movie World

PP Movie Rating:- ** (2 Star/5)

What Is The Story About?

Hemant Shah, a part-time school employee, is happy with his lower-middle-class life before his younger brother Viren falls prey to a moneylender. Hemant invests all of his knowledge in the stock market, using it as a cash cow to help his family get out of debt. He succeeds and eventually becomes a stockbroker. Hemant is busy biting off more than he can chew, milking the many loopholes in the Indian banking system, such is the allure of fast money and glory. Law is swift to catch up with him, as is financial journalist Meera Rao, who puts a stop to Hemant's rise.

Analysis

The Big Bull, a highly fictionalised account of the life of former stockbroker and scam artist Harshad Mehta, was always going to be the underdog in comparison to Hansal Mehta's gripping web show (Scam 1992) based on the same figure. The film, which stars Abhishek Bachchan and is directed by him, is a sketchy look at the colourful life of a man whose fall was as spectacular as his rise. Surprisingly, amid Harshad Mehta's life story's multiple dramatic arcs, The Big Bull leaves you cold and unmoved.

The simplistic treatment of a complicated scam, the poorly etched characters, and the lack of a good dramatic hook prevent you from completely immersing yourself in the plot. The film fails to find a soul or to do justice to the scope of its subject and the timeline's events. Worse, it desperately tries to paint a sympathetic picture of a criminal's life, transferring blame to the system and almost justifying his crimes, even calling him a "dreamer."

The Big Bull's trajectory largely parallels the lead actor's film Guru (loosely based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani) thus mirroring the rise of a flawed man who uses structural failures to reach newer peaks, whether on purpose or not. Though the movie does a good job of setting up Hemant's meteoric rise, the character's reaction to his downfall is more of a meek surrender. The film's greatest flaw is its ending, which ends on a whimper and fails to offer the plot any sense or greater significance.

Performances

Abhishek Bachchan is an excellent choice for the role of a stockbroker intoxicated by the intoxication of celebrity and financial greed. He plays the film's most interesting character, relishing the film's greys and rising to the occasion even when the script fails him. The film's biggest letdown is Ileana's performance as journalist Meera Rao, who is based on Sucheta Dalal. It confuses pompous one-liners with good characterisation; it has a lot of style but not enough meat.

Nikita Dutta, who plays the scammer's love interest-turned-wife, is very attractive, but her importance in the storey is debatable. Ram Kapoor has nothing to do with his staged portrayal of a flamboyant criminal lawyer. Sohum Shah uses the film's tense moments to deliver a calculated, powerful score. Saurabh Shukla, Samir Soni, Sumit Vats, Mahesh Manjrekar, and even Supriya Pathak Kapur have unmemorable roles with little depth.

Music and Others Departments

Composer Gaurav Dasgupta, Wily Frenzy, and Mehul Vyas deliver solid numbers that aren't bad in terms of situational significance, while Sandeep Shirodkar's stirring score has a stronger effect. The Big Bull does a poor job visually portraying Bombay in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The dialogues are overly descriptive and slanted in the protagonist's favour. Even at 153 minutes, the film's detailing isn't particularly impressive, and the lack of an emotional thread hurts its cause.

Did I Enjoy It?

Not quite

Do I Recommend It?

No