“Besharam” means shameless, and Bollywood helmer Abhinav Kashyap never stops trumpeting that concept for a moment. “More of the same” seems to be his mantra for this romantic comedy — more frenetically unmemorable musical numbers, more mugging, strutting and crass bits of business. Kashyap relies completely on star Ranbir Kapoor to put over this relentless reiteration of cliches and, admittedly, the actor invests his aggressively tasteless, crotch-grabbing antics with enough energy and humor to make it palatable, but only just. Hugely anticipated, “Besharam” appears too ho-hum to maintain the inflated box office of its worldwide Oct. 2 bow on 4,300 screens worldwide.
Babli (Kapoor) fixes cars by day and steals them at night, funneling his ill-gotten gains back into the orphanage where he grew up alongside sidekick T-2 (Amitosh Nagpal). Catching sight of Tara (Pallavi Sharda), he instantly tumbles head over heels and sets out to woo the haughty, upwardly mobile beauty. His »
- Ronnie Scheib