'Bha Bha Ba' Movie Review: Dileep’s Mass Action Comeback Is Absolute Gibberish

Ever since directors like Karthik Subbaraj and Lokesh Kanagaraj made it socially acceptable for a film to be termed a “fanboy sambhavam”, we as the audience were aware that this sub-genre would eventually spread to all languages, catering to almost every fanbase. Dhananjay Shankar’s Bha Bha Ba is among Malayalam cinema’s most desperate attempts at cashing in on this cow and the film tries to do this by milking the fanbases of two of its major stars—Dileep (obviously) and Mohanlal.

For Dileep, the film underlines its intentions by introducing us to his nameless character by making him appear in a range of vehicles made popular by the actor’s yesteryear hits such as Runway, CID Moosa, Parakkum Thalika and Mister Butler. If his previous release Prince And Family dialled up the sentimental meter to underline how Dileep was once a darling among family audiences, it’s obvious that Bha Bha Ba is meant to appeal to the kids who grew up watching his slapstick comedies. The film even makes a case for this by opening with a caption which may very well be interpreted as a caveat—“no logic, only madness.”

Once you read this, maybe the idea is to not expect narrative cohesiveness or an organic flow of events. Instead, what the film aspires to achieve is a set of over-the-top comedy scenes that work independently as Instagram Reels which you’re likely to see when clips from the film land up there. This isn’t limited to scenes involving Dileep or Mohanlal either. Even the film’s smaller stars get the same treatment as the fourth wall is demolished, just so they can crack a lazy joke. This could be Vineeth Sreenivasan’s character introduction as the man who will only arrive from Chennai, owing to the man’s undying love for the city. This could also be Dhyan Sreenivasan being introduced as the Interview Star, just because of how popular he has become on YouTube. But the irritation doesn’t arise from the film taking a couple of lines for these wisecracks. Entire scenes are built around this Vineeth versus Dhyan clash, but the only joke is that it's around the same fourth-wall-breaking pop cultural reference the film cracks several times before this.

This creates an added level of exhaustion when you have to see the same ideas play out with references to older films of both Dileep and Mohanlal. For Dileep, the film inserts the crassest of double-meaning jokes, the sort that deliberately confuses a cow for a woman, just so it can make a joke about “milking”. Toilet jokes abound too, including the film beginning with a Chief Minister who needs to desperately run to a toilet as he’s seen wearing diapers. But the film appears most clueless when it tries to make the most of what it can with Mohanlal’s call sheet. Some of these, including a slo-mo shot of Mohanlal tying his mundu as he twirls his moustache is too cringe and too basic, even for his most diehard fan. The references that follow are just as lazy, trying to match what you see on Reels with what you can do when the star has agreed to say yes to anything.

The problem isn’t with the madcap nonsense the film’s trying to achieve. In fact, if you’ve decided to take that plunge, why do you even try to plant this film in some sort of emotional logic? Why does Dileep’s character require the plainest, most cliched flashback when we’re already willing to accept his madness? Why give him such a lofty motivation for a revenge plot when nothing else in the film has even tried to make sense of itself? As the film moves from one annoying setup to another, we grapple with the inanity of the ideas and just how little the makers feel is enough to deliver on a 'theatre moment' that won't even last until you reach the gates of the theatre. In an effort to create a film that tries to be wild, we’re left feeling like we’re watching gibberish on screen, the sort that insults your intelligence, and takes pride in this act of insulting you.

Note: Dileep faced criminal charges and a Kerala court acquitted him of those charges in December 2025