It has never been good to be bad, and it’s certainly not when you have to pay `240 to watch a film with just 15 people on the day of its release. Crook: It’s Good to be Bad is crooked (as the title tells you) and makes a sensational issue, like the racist attacks on the Indian students in Australia, look trivial.
Set in the background of the racist attacks on the Indian students in Australia, the film tells the story of a youngster, who doesn’t care about anything but himself. Jai Dixit, aka Suraj Bhardwaj, could have been a powerful character with his “I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude”, but the lack of any powerful dialogues and the sad punchline “Its good to be bad” kills it long before the interval.
Two youngsters — an Australian and an Indian (Arjan Bajwa, playing a tough brother whose role is ripped straight from the film Pyar Kiya To Darna Kiya, although with a negative shade) — start hating each other’s communities because the Australian impregnates the Indian’s sister, and the Indian’s sister dies during abortion which was again forced by the Indian brother to save his face in the community. This one incident is shown to be the root cause behind the racial attacks on Indian students that shook the country as well as people back in Australia.
As the film progresses further in the second half, you see a lot of typical Emraan Hashmi scenes where he is running from the police with the heroine. The actress gets hurt while escaping, he caresses the heroine and then it starts raining. And hurray, they have a sad song in the background — just to make you feel how miserable they are. Well, you probably are miserable watching this anyway.
The serial kisser, as Emran Hashmi is known as, for the first time doesn’t kiss the leading lady in the film because he feels guilty. The bad boy is screaming all the time about how good it’s to be bad also feels bad to be bad.
Neha Sharma doesn’t do much either except walking around Melbourne in short clothes, while Emraan Hashmi and everyone else couldn’t leave their sweaters or jackets or whatever back home. Why do the heroines in Bollywood never feel cold? Thank God, otherwise there would have been nothing else to see.
There are many things which are not likeable in the film, but what makes you feel a little good about it is the music in the film. The numbers, like Challa and Mere Bina, have the potential to be hits.