Varun Dhawan's Hindi remake of Thalapathy Vijay’s Tamil film 'Theri' is titled 'Baby John'. The film, co-written and co-produced by Kollywood filmmaker Atlee, has been a painful watch as per most social media users. Helmed by Kalees, the remake is co-written by Atlee, Kalees, and Sumit Arora.
Co-starring Keerthy Suresh, Wamiqa Gabbi, Jackie Shroff, Rajpal Yadav, Zara Zyanna, and Sheeba Chaddha, the film has been trashed by film critics. NDTV opined that 'Baby John' is a "creaky, scrappy and hopelessly disjointed movie that looks for inspiration in all the wrong places".
The Hindu said that the faithful adaptation of ‘Theri’ has its mass moments but the action drama suffers from an excess of manufactured sound and fury. Times of India stated that the movie has its moments as an actioner, but in terms of content and narrative, it could have been more impactful.
Hollywood Reporter India was scathing in its review. "The problem with movies like Baby John is that — like a majority of Indian mass entertainment — they rely solely on star power to plug the holes and hide the flimsiness of its formula. Screen presence and fan service are supposed to be the main attractions; the rest are just token social-drama fillers," film reviewer Rahul Desai opined.
After a blockbuster hit like SRK's Jawan last year, the Bollywood trade trusted Atlee. The Bigil and Mersal director had made boastful statements about the film's potential in pre-release interviews.
