In a scene in Baaghi 3, the dreaded terrorist
Abu Jalal Gaza asks his men
who has invaded his checkpost.
Is it America, he wonders? 
Russia, the Mossad, who?
It’s our very own Tiger Shroff, who in this
film is taking on an entire country – Syria.
I suppose the stakes had to be raised.
The first film was a mashup of the Telugu film 
Varsham, The Karate Kid and The Raid: Redemption.
Tiger single-handedly took on an entire building
filled with killers.
The second was a remake of 
the Telugu film Kshanam.
In the 16-minute-long climax, Tiger destroyed
the villain and his whole army.
Baaghi 3 is an adaptation of 
the 2012 Tamil film Vettai.
In that film, the two brothers went up 
against the local gangsters.
But Tiger needs heftier opposition so director
Ahmed Khan, who has also designed the action,
decided to pit him against 
the war-torn country.
Of course, the film has no real interest 
in Syria or its people.
Baaghi 3 was extensively shot in Serbia, 
which fills in for Syria.
The devastated landscape is mostly used to
make Tiger look even more heroic.
Is that problematic? Yes.
But this film also advocates encounter killings
and casually shows a father whipping a child
with a belt.
This isn’t cinema operating on any logic,
not even its own.
Baaghi 3 is ostensibly part of a franchise
but there is nothing tying the three films
together except Tiger Shroff playing a character
named Ronnie who is gifted with superhuman
strength and agility.
Ahmed tries to strengthen the link by self-referencing
dialogue from his earlier films – so at
one point, Jackie Shroff playing Tiger’s
dad says: Jo torture lag raha hai woh uska
warm up hai.
Which you might recognize as Tiger’s signature
line from Baaghi 2.
And in another, Tiger delivers his own dialogue
from Heropanti saying about heropanti – kya
karoon, sabko aati nahi, meri jaati nahi.
It’s all very meta.
It took five writers to figure out how this
story could move from Agra to Syria.
Producer Sajid Nadiadwala has been credited
with story adaptation.
Farhad Samji, Sparsh Khetarpal, Tasha Bhambra
and Madhur Sharma also have writing credits.
And yet, the actual story in Baaghi 3 feels
like a placeholder until the next action set-piece
kicks in.
Some of which are impressive.
I’ve always maintained that Tiger in action
is a thing of beauty.
It’s thrilling to see him hanging from a
wire, tossing grenades at the bad guys or
outrunning gigantic helicopters.
Ahmed also seems to be enthralled by his leading
man.
So at one point, the action actually pauses
so he can pose on top of smashed helicopters,
very much the savior of the world.
Bronzed and shirtless, Tiger can outrun helicopters,
tanks, men.
What he can’t outrun is the mediocrity of
this film.
Neither can the rest of actors, including
the wonderful Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma.
In the climax, they exchange this look of
bonding and I felt like they were silently
asking each other if the paycheck was worth
it.
Shraddha Kapoor, who was in Baaghi, returns
to play the one-note character of chirpy girlfriend.
And then there’s Riteish Deshmukh, hamming
gloriously as Ronnie’s timid elder brother
Vikram.
Every time Vikram is in trouble, he screams,
'Ronnie' and Ronnie appears.
It’s unintentional comedy.
As is a moment when the two brothers reunite
for the first time after Vikram is assaulted.
They shed tears and gaze at each other while
the much-feared villain Gaza waits and generously
allows them to have a family moment.
Disha Patani also pops in to dance at a Syrian
nightclub and provide momentary relief from
the furious action.
As I said in my Baaghi 2 review, Tiger Shroff
is the platonic ideal of the Bollywood action
hero.
He makes outlandish situations exciting.
But even he needs a compelling story to hang
that action on.
Otherwise all his hard work doesn’t add
to much.
And we leave the theater feeling pummeled
like those countless men he hits in this film.
