The First three episodes of Bajao’s (2023) first season of the comedy-drama show “Bajao” just dropped on Jiocinema, which surely offers some silly, madcap entertainment. The show chronicles the life of three best friends who go through a series of misadventures while starting their own business. The show, directed by Shiva Varma and Saptaraj Chakraborty and written by Nikhil Sachan, follows the template set by many OTT shows of the recent past, including TVF “Inmates” and Scoopwhoop “Baked.
Sadly, it is not as good as those shows, but nonetheless, the first three episodes are undoubtedly binge-worthy. The ensemble cast of the series also includes actors Tanuj Virwani, Sahil Vaid, Sahil Khattar, and Mahira Sharma. Much of the marketing and hype created about the show is around the famous Punjabi rapper Raftaar, who plays a version of himself named Babbar.
Bajao is described as an “uproarious coming-of-age bromance” that follows the hilarious escapades of three young filmmakers, Led, Dhari, and Cookie, navigating the high-octane world of Punjabi Pop music. Their lives take an unexpected turn when they find themselves entrusted with a bag of Rs 2 crore to shoot the comeback music video for Punjab’s most celebrated rapper, Babbar. However, a night of revelry leads to chaos, and the trio wakes up with no memory, the bag missing, and the rapper mysteriously absent.
The first season introduces how the three guys come together and become friends. Ved (Tanuj Virwani) and Cookie (Sahil Vaid) assist in a studio that makes music videos for Punjabi rappers and hip-hop artists. Ved is unhappy with his job since there is no creative satisfaction on the job, and he wants to make films independently. Dhari (Sahil Khattar), the bald guy who you might remember from the Being Indian videos and recently for his Kirmani turn in ’83, plays a funny and angry sales executive struggling with the silly demands of his customer and boss.
Sahil Khattar is the funniest of the lot and gets the funniest lines in the show. His character is an extension of the character Ajay Devgn played in “Golmaal 3”. Like Gopal in that film, Dhari, too, has anger issues and doesn’t flinch to beat people up once his head tilts (quite literally). He gets a hilarious gag (a reference to “The Wolf of Wall Street”) where the interviewer asks him to sell a pen every time he goes for a job interview. After a businessman/criminal fires a bullet at the artist during one of the video shoots, Ved and Cookie decide to step down from their job to start their own company, though their antics remain ridiculous.
As it is a comedy-drama, you expect nothing less than that, and while introducing the characters, “Bajao” tries to take us on a laughter riot with its comic timing. Sahil Vaid’s Cookie is supposed to be the screwball, but he comes across as cringe more than funny. While Tanuj Virwani gets the stereotypical character of Ved, who is quite a loser but tries to be earnest. Tanuj doesn’t embody the misfit nature and weird nature of the show’s world, and his Ranbir Kapoor-like mannerisms are mostly distracting. We all expect better from the “Inside Edge” actor.
The series starts with the three friends finding themselves at the Yamuna riverbank. They try hard to remember what happened at night’s party as a gangster, Dharam Singh (Rajesh Sharma), chases them. Further, the series takes the audience to its past and displays what happened that led them to this awful situation. The story also dives into Ved’s love life history and reveals the reason why his girlfriend is on the verge of breaking up with him.
The first three episodes of “Bajao” are filled with characters, and a lot is happening that might be difficult to follow. The show delves deep into the toxic Rap and hip-hop scene of North India and explores various topics, like Mafia investors, drugs, and even diss tracks. Although alongside comedy, Bajao teases us with an emotional angle. Rafter’s star act as Babbar Paaji intrigues the audience the most. He only appears in the third episode, and his backstory does help generate sympathy.
The series nicely forms the motivation to root for his character and leaves us on a cliffhanger. Hopefully, we will get to see more of Raftaar in the next episodes. Babbar also gets to address a diss track, which will get anyone who is aware of the real scene excited since Raftaar is famous for his diss track against Emiway Bantai. The comedy-drama promises to reflect the truth of the hip-hop scene of India and its orthodox beliefs.
After so much emotion and drama, the show again takes a funny route and finally leaves the three friends in trouble. The show’s title is supposed to justify their foray into new adventures and that you need to take a crack at everything no matter how many lemons life throws at you. Among all the positives, the series seemed in a hurry to get to the next gag or next hilarious set-up, though a bit more time invested in establishing the chemistry between the friends would have been ideal. Yet, “Bajao” is a decent light-hearted weekend watch if the North Indian hip-hop scene interests you.
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