The Big Bull movie starring Abhishek Bachchan has opened to a mixed critical response as it premiered on Disney+Hotstar on Thursday.
Several people on Twitter belted out their reviews — while some were warm, some were nasty. One person went on to questioning the actor’s acting skills and compared Abhishek’s film with Hansal Mehta’s Scam 1992 starring Pratik Gandhi.
“As usual @juniorbachchan doesn’t disappoint you with his 3rd rate so called acting in a poorly scripted & badly filmed #TheBigBull @pratikg80 & #Scam1992 are far superior by miles,” wrote a user on Twitter.
The Big Bull Amused by Twitterati Comment
As usual @juniorbachchan doesn't disappoint you with his 3rd rate so called acting in a poorly scripted & badly filmed #TheBigBull @pratikg80 & #Scam1992 are far superior by miles.@ajaydevgn @DisneyplusHSVIP
— डॉ. सुशांत त्रिविक्रम जोशी 🇮🇳 (@sushanthjoshi) April 8, 2021
Abhishek, who is known for his befitting yet subtle replies on social media, replied saying, “Hey man, as long as I’ve not disappointed you, I’m happy. Thank you for taking the time out to see our film.”
Abhishek niece Navya Naveli Nanda had shared a poster of the film on her Instagram Stories, and wrote, “Yay out today,” adding, “The one and only Big Bull Abhishek Bachchan.”
On his film being constantly compared to Hansal Mehta’s Scam 1992, Abhishek Bachchan expressed, “It is human nature to want to compare, and I think it’s fine.
But, I have noticed that, I’d say almost 95% of the discussions of the comparison of both the products stopped the day our trailer came out.
Because, I think the audience saw the trailer and realised that both actually have quite a different approach. So, just watch the film and take the decision for yourself. I was happy to know that the entire discussion, which was prevalent at a particular time, but not after the trailer came out.”
Review of The Big Bull
Despite Abhishek Bachchan’s best efforts to portray the fallen stalwart of the Bombay stock exchange, the film comes across as a drab attempt to glorify its problematic protagonist.
The two-and-half hours runtime seems never-ending, all the while refusing to embark on a nuanced cinematic inquiry into the psyche of a high profile fraudster. Its attempts at deconstructing complex financial concepts behind the many crimes of its protagonist are mediocre at best, drowning the story in juvenile frivolities.
The telling and retelling of Harshad Mehta’s story point out Indian popular culture’s unhealthy obsession with the act of frenzied and unprincipled money-making, especially in the post-liberalisation era. Something which Hansal Mehta tapped into deliciously, but Kookie Gulati seems to have missed out on.
The strangest thing about The Big Bull, co-written and directed by Kookie Gulati, is that a great deal appears to be unfolding on the screen, sometimes at a pace that could at a stretch be classified as breakneck, but none of it sets off any ripples of emotion or excitement. This is a stuffy, facile biopic that baulks at calling itself one. It moves forward and backward – the storyline spans from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, the period that saw the rise and rise of Harshad Mehta – like a sputtering engine in need of an overhaul.
The Harshad Mehta saga was essentially about ambition, greed, market manipulation, political chicanery, banking industry malfeasance and the birth of the post-liberalization get-rich-quick-at-any-cost culture that has been the bane of India ever since. Neither the banks nor the nation’s economic practices have been able to shrug off the bad habits picked up during that frenzied phase.
Watch The Big Bull Abhishek Bachchan
Saurabh Shukla, however, needs only a couple of scenes to rise above the uninspired writing and leave an impression. Mahesh Manjrekar has even less footage – a single scene and a handful of lines as a trade union leader.