I bet none of the current generation of Hindi film directors, who are besotted with the Hollywood style of film making, would have made such a film. It took Puri Jagannadh, a Telugu action film maker, to pay tribute to the legendary Amitabh Bachchan via Bbuddah Hoga Tera Baap.

After watching Sallu bhai's Wanted ( a remake of Puri's Super hit Pokiri), I thought Puri made a big mistake of not remaking it himself in Hindi. Wanted is not even half of Puri's Pokiri. Prabhu Deva, who directed the Tamil version (Pokkiri with Vijay), made a mockery of the original in both the languages. 

Puri has redefined hero and heroism in Telugu cinema. His heroes are not good Samaritans. They are raw, powerful, witty, straightforward, irresponsible and happy-go-lucky.  Puri ensures that they are elevated to the maximum extent possible in every scene, be it Ravi Teja in Idiot or Mahesh in Pokiri or Prabhas in Bujjigadu. This has garnered him a huge loyal fan base. Irrespective of the film's fate, the hero's character gets etched in your memory for a long time.

Now if someone like him has Amitabh Bachchan as the protagonist, you (knowing what Amitabh can do) would settle for nothing less than a Pokiri. Puri has chosen the right script, though a wafer-thin plot, to showcase the baap of all in BHTB. The first half has nothing much except a couple of incoherent scenes, celebrating the Amitabh classics and building up the character for the actual dhamaka.

It's the second half that takes the cake. Amitabh goes berserk in the second half with his style, voice modulation, gun firing and dressing and shows everyone who the asli baap is. Every scene is worth watching again and again. This shows it's not enough if you have the right story, screenplay and dialogs unless you have the right actor who can take the scenes to new level. And Amitabh actually takes the movie to Himalayan heights with his impeccable histrionics.

I would not say this is a great film, but definitely a treat to all the Amitabh fans. This is not just a tribute but a nice way to say  'we love you' to the man who has entertained us relentlessly for the last four decades.

My favorite dialogs (please bear with my Hindi), all have Puri's stamp on them.

1. Mein marunga tho bullet se hi marunga, bp sugar se nahi.
2. Hum jaha khade hojathe hai, line wahi se shuru hoti hai
3. Soda mein coffee, tea acha nahi lagthi
4. Sar pe bullet marne se ek ched hojatha, agar us ched me aur ek bullet gaya tho samajhna woh Vijju ka hai. 
5. Heart attack sirf mard ko hoti hai kyu ki hamare paas dil hai.
6. Yeh umar bullet aur bomb ki nahi bhakti channel dekhne ki hai (Hema Malini to AB) and more.


PS:  With all the current generation heroes vying with each other to cater to the niche multiplex audience, the masses are starved of such films. Hence you have Ghajini, Wanted and Dabangg breaking the box-office records.