Ladies vs Ricky Bahl

The ladies want to teach Ricky a lesson, but can’t stop loving him

When the ‘ladies special’ commuter trains were first flagged off by Mumbai’s Western Railways, envious men joked that it wasn’t a passenger train but a maal gaadi. Hindi movies ornamentally dominated by women, as Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl is, may be subject to the same insensitive Y chromosome humour, but are presented as the pop culture approach to redressing troublesome encounters with men.

Ironically enough, even though the film’s premise is to straighten out a conman who preys on gullible women, the film ends up appreciating and admiring the confidence trickster.

Using a variety of pseudonyms, guises and cellphones, Ricky Bahl (Ranveer Singh) manages to loot lakhs from three women in three different cities—Delhi, Mumbai and Lucknow. Ricky’s most interesting con is with an MF Husain ‘horses’ painting, the kind the artist used to churn out by the dozen and which were pretty easily faked. Raina (Dipannita Sharma), the ruthless Mumbai corporate executive who falls for the Husain because she knows everything about management and nothing about art, is the finest character etch, even though Dimple from Delhi (Parineeti Chopra) is the most entertaining. The trio of women is completed by the trusting Saira (Aditi Sharma) from Hazratganj, Lucknow.

Till the point the women meet in Mumbai to plan their revenge, the film works fine. Unfortunately, the plan of line-fishing Ricky in his hideaway in Goa with fresh bait (Anushka Sharma) actually materialises with the girls stalking and ogling the man. Dimple salivates over his beach bum body, Raina focuses her binoculars on his torso, and the bait, silly girl, flips for him.

Ladies VS Ricky Bahl is a disappointing cop-out. The control centre of the movie is in the hands of the male lead. He triggers the problems and finds the solution. The ladies are art deco, furniture and cosmetics. Patriarchy in Hindi cinema is alive and kicking.

About The Author

Ajit Duara