The Big Bull Review: Suffers From a Ton of Screenwriting Issues!

The Big Bull starring Abhishek Bachchan in the primary role, is the new Disney+ Hotstar Multiplex movie directed by Kookie Gulati and is based on the notorious life of Harshad Mehta. Sohum Shah, Ileana D’ Cruz, and Nikita Dutta play the supporting characters, with Ajay Devgn and Anand Pandit working as the producers of the film.

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The storyline of The Big Bull recaps the entire adult life of Harshad Mehta (named Hemant Shah in the film), and primarily focuses on how he started as a broker at the BSE, to starting his brokerage firm, and eventually the route he took to satisfy his lust for money and instant success.

Firstly, the most important detail that you should know before watching The Big Bull is that it is loosely inspired by the influential life events of Harshad Mehta. So, as a result, there are many cinematic liberties taken to dramatize the story. A touch of Bollywood flair was utilized to evoke emotions, and pseudonyms are implemented throughout the story, so you need to be aware of the story beforehand, to understand the film’s narrative. Consequently, if you’re already familiar with Mehta’s involvement in the 1992 Indian securities scam after watching the Sony LIV show, SCAM 1992, you’ll observe a ton of inconsistencies between reality and fiction in The Big Bull.

Moving on to the narrative issues, The Big Bull yet again proves that you cannot convincingly fit a ten-hour story into a two-hour movie. The very latest example being, Justice League (2017) vs. The Snyder Cut. A dense storyline with added plot points and financial jargon demands explanation at the finest level. I cannot imagine an amateur watching this film without him/her getting vexed up instantly. There is a specific reason why Adam McKay convinced Margot Robbie to explain the Wall Street lingo in The Big Short, while she is half-naked in a bathtub. People lose attention, especially when they’re watching at the comfort of their own homes.

The complicated stuff about how the scam was performed, the intricacies of the fraud were ignored or explained in a hurry and swept under the rug for the sake of commercialization. And that’s when you’ll appreciate the brilliance of the Sony LIV show, SCAM 1992 stands out, and understand the blunders made by The Big Bull writers team. Subsequently, if you’re unable to understand the story, the characters and their emotions don’t matter much because your mind is already busy directing you to check what’s trending on Twitter.

On to the titular protagonist, the whole shebang of propelling Harshad Mehta as this savior of the Indian Economy did not sit right with me as the movie even went on to hint at a few conspiracy theories and so on. However, Abhishek Bachchan portrays his role incredibly as this greedy, opportunistic, and over-confident guy, who prefers to only have a drink when it’s an expensive one. Despite a few over-cringe scenes, Abhishek carried himself well on-screen alongside Ileana D’ Cruz, who is decent for the most part.

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Overall, narrating the entire story of Harshad Mehta and his notorious scams in a digestible way and within a 154-minute runtime is simply not possible. Therefore, The Big Bull suffers from screenwriting issues, an unclear story, and above all, a below-par directorial effort. There is nothing available in this movie that will make you root for the characters emotionally nor it maintains any sort of engagement to make you sit through its entirety. Ignore it unless you’re an ardent admirer of Abhishek Bachchan. Watch ‘The Big Bull’ on Disney+ Hotstar here.

Rating – 2/5 | Grade – C

Images via Disney+ Hotstar