The story of the movie: A A Sharma (Manish Paul) has delivered a huge hit with Paddi Singh (Pradhuman Singh) but is struggling in his career. On top of that, an event, seen as a celebration of sorts in the world, leads to his doom. At this juncture, he meets David Chadhdha (Sikandar Kher) who wants to cast Paddi in a Hollywood film. Paddi is known for his resemblance to the dreaded terrorist Osama Bin Laden. He wants Paddi in a film in which he wants to recreate the assassination of Osama as it happened in Abbotabad in May 2011. Sharma gets involved as well in this project. However, both are unaware of David’s real identity and his extremely devious plan.
Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive’s beginning portions are damn interesting. In fact, it is not just a sequel but a prequel as well and the manner in which it is put together catches one unawares! Very smartly done! The scenes of Khaleeli (Piyush Mishra) raise tons of laughs. Again, the witty and funny writing does the trick. Sadly, there are portions where the film drops rapidly. In the first half, this especially happens in the ‘Six Pack’ song. What exactly were the makers trying to show? So unfunny and so unimaginative! However, the scene where AA Sharma and team meet Khaleeli is when the film picks up again. Post-intermission, there are few funny moments but the impact somewhere withers away. There’s also the character of President Obama (Iman Crosson aka Alphacat). It’s a great, well-sketched part and has its moments. But in the end, he ruins it all. In fact, the entire idea shown in the climax (again taken from part 1) that how easily so many problems can be solved is quite nice but the execution is bad and very unconvincing. In fact, the film stops being funny and that’s also one of the biggest weakpoints.
The performances however are quite nice especially by the leading actors. Manish Paul is confident and puts his best foot forward. He works hard and ensures his scenes make an impact. Pradhuman Singh is not as hilarious as he was in part 1 but nevertheless, he does arouse laughs. He is a really good actor and I’ll love to see him more in non-Osama roles. Sikandar Kher is the biggest surprise and the best actor of the lot. His David Do Something avatar is killer! The actor is completely unrecognizable! What a transformation. Even as David Chadhdha, he is hugely entertaining! Superb comeback! Piyush Mishra gets completely into his character and contributes to the fun quotient. Sugandha Garg (Sugandha) leaves a mark in the assassination shooting sequence. Rahul Singh is okay. His character trait of being very high handed and egoistic is damn unconvincing. Chirag Vohra (Chirag) is fine. Same goes for Mia Uyeda (Junior). Ali Zafar looks dashing in the cameo.
Music doesn’t make much impact. But Itemwaale is very catchy. Dhruv Dhalla’s background score is in sync with the film’s mood. Amalendu Chaudhary’s cinematography is quite good. VFX is very nicely done. Pradhuman Singh’s dialogues are funny but quite wittily written. Same goes for the screenplay (Abhishek Sharma, Neha Sharma, Pradhuman Singh) at least till the middle of the second hour. As said above, the beginning portions really surprise viewers as no one expected the film to commence in such a manner. But sadly, they couldn’t keep this element of surprise and entertainment consistent. Abhishek Sharma keeps his direction simple as he knows that his story has the potential. Some of his ideas are damn funny like the Olympic of the terrorists, an Osama retrospective etc. But sadly, when the film drops, it does significantly and hence the impact immediately goes away to a great extent. And in the end, he makes a mess that further hampers the impact generated by the good scenes.
On the whole, Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive is laced with a great storyline and performers. But the film fails to do justice and despite having some genuinely creative and funny moments, it lacks the punch overall. Also, this is a sequel to Tere Bin Laden, a movie that was very well written and directed and Tere Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive doesn’t reach to that level for sure. An average fare and in a way, a loss of a killer idea!
My rating - ** ½ out of 5!