The Big Bull: Abhishek Bachchan is the highlight of Bollywood's spin to the Harshad Mehta story

The Big Bull entails the story of Hemant Shah, a stockbroker, who in the early ’90s had the country’s future in the palm of his hand. Every move of the ‘Big Bull,’ as he was called, tipped the scales of the Indian economy. His story is truly one that describes the journey of someone who goes from rags to riches, except, as the movie says, he also enabled the middle-class, because he believed, ''Umeed saadhe teen akshar ka shabd hai aur umeed pe toh duniya kayam hai''.

We all know the story about the 500 crore scam that he was accused of, and we also know how did that go down. So let's get to what does the movie does differently, without simply narrating the story about events everyone knows of. Directed by Kookie Gulati, the cast includes Abhishek Bachchan, Sohum Shah, Nikita Dutta, Ileana D'Cruz in pivotal roles.

First things first, I can't seem to get over how we are reminded of Guru in so many shots of the film, and it is a nice thing right here. However, what kind of does not go down well is how the movie shows Hemant as a 'messiah' because well, shouldn't that be something we must allow the viewers and everyone else to decide? Over the due course of the 2 hours and 34 minutes that the movie lasts, my problem is how often everything is made to look larger than life, while it isn't all those things. While it is believable to see Shah as the one and only 'Big Bull' as reporter and writer Meera (Ileana) says, but we can't outright stamp him as a hero, can we? Not only did Shah achieve success overnight, but his fall happened in a rather similar manner as well. And that is something that we notice throughout the movie, which isn't very consistent.

Nonetheless, we must give it to the dialogue writers, because boy, I must say just how much I have loved some of AB's dialogues throughout the movie. In fact, more so the sentiment involved is also something that kind of gave it an edge. The story seems basic with truckloads of Bollywood style drama, even a little over-emotionalized, if you ask me! For someone who hasn't seen Scam 1992 (yes, I haven't, kind of glad because it helped me keep my biases away), I believe that the movie is still a little over the top. It wouldn't be right to call it a bad film, but it makes for a fair one-time watch!

Coming to the cast, next. Junior Bachchan is as usual, at his best. There's something about his dialogue delivery that makes you want to like Hemant, and we do until the movie decides to overdo it for you. However, it is he who has the strongest and loudest roar. Sohum Shah as Viren seems to be a waste of acting skills because we now know what he is capable of doing and that is why we were hoping to see more of him! Nikita as Shah's wife is a role that anyone could play, but she does the job right. Supriya and Saurabh, though have brief roles, do what they set out to just about fine. Ileana as the journalist does have our attention and she sure counts for a good addition to not just the cast, but also the story.

All in all, the movie isn't free of loopholes but there is too much Bollywood happening here, and maybe, a subtle representation of bits and pieces would have done the movie better.

Ratings: *** (3/5) stars