Bazaar Movie Review: Saif Ali Khan's Dragged Stock Market Drama

Saif Ali Khan gets to play a shrewd businessman with money on his mind and no moral compass but it's a performance that's marred courtesy a Gujarati accent that makes sporadic appearances. It doesn't help that Kothari is devoid of a personality that makes heads turn and is given many attempts to justify his wrongdoings. Rohan Mehra in his debut role has plenty of screen time but there's only that much impression he can make with a long-drawn drama.

Rohan Mehra, son of memorable actor Vinod Mehra, is a young man appallingly free of charisma. The debutant goes through the predictable motions of a shark-to-be, and does so without any discernible talent. In a scene where he vomits, for example, he doesn’t look like he needs to throw up; he looks like he’s suddenly reminded the script needs him to throw up. Bazaar looks slick enough to be a passable B-movie, if not for this lacklustre lead.

Apte is lovely in montages and sequences set to music — entering a room with style, throwing her head back and laughing, casting a side-eyed glance — but it hurts whenever she speaks because the dialogue she’s given is pure cardboard. 

Paisa ya bharosa, family ya power? Kaun jeetega iss game mein? #BaazaarInCinemasTomorrow
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— Baazaar (@BaazaarFilm) October 25, 2018

The film takes great pride in being clued into the inside workings of the stock market. Yet it never lets the tone of know-all self-congratulation come in the way of telling us the story of 'When Shakun Met Rohan'.  The dirty politics of stock trade might not hold everyone's interest but Baazaar's focal point is how much compromise is exempt from moral scrutiny. It doesn't bode well that Baazaar ends with a factual inaccuracy. Taking the audience for ignorant is not a smart business move.

Saif Ali Khan, Radhika Apte