Babumoshai Bandookbaaz 2017

In the tangled world of Uttar Pradesh politics, where power players like Dubey and Jiji pull the strings, a lone hitman named Babu Bihari trades in danger and silence. He operates for both sides, charging ₹20,000 for each targeted man and handing a ₹5,000 cut to the constable who arranges the job, all while living a stark, unglamorous life in a remote shanty. The film lays out a tense backdrop where ambition and vendetta intertwine, and Babu’s reputation for brutal, clean executions makes him a sought-after fixer in a city used to backroom deals and betrayal.

A new assignment lands on Babu’s table: kill a local musclebound enforcer who backs the wrong horse in the political game. While scoping the target, he encounters Phulwa, a cobbler with a stubborn fire in her eyes and a will of her own. Her beauty is hard to miss, but it’s her grit and independence that truly draw him in. He makes a bold, clumsy attempt to court her, only to be met with firm dismissal. Undeterred, Babu proceeds with the hit, a move that Phulwa witnesses firsthand and could change the course of many lives. Phulwa refuses to implicate him to the authorities, choosing instead to keep her own counsel as the violence unfolds around her.

The aftermath reveals a darker motive behind Phulwa’s harsh reaction: she learns that the man who is attacked, and his brothers, had raped her. This revelation fuels her resolve, and she makes a stark demand—if Babu will kill the remaining brothers, she will be ready to offer him anything he asks. Moved, or perhaps compelled by a personal code of retribution, Babu follows through, eliminating the ones who violated her. When he returns, the mood is icy: Jiji is furious because Babu’s actions disrupt her political calculations, souring an alliance that mattered to her power play.

From this point, an unexpected intimacy blooms between Babu and Phulwa, and the two share a moment of tenderness. Their fragile bond soon collides with the brutal business Babu lives by: Dubey hires him to wipe out Jiji’s three men. Babu openly tells Jiji about the assignment, and he challenges her to shield the targets if she truly controls the ground game. The first attempt to strike is interrupted by another hitman who shares the same contract—Banke—an admirer of Babu who has his own reasons for competing. What follows is a sanctioned duel of sorts: the pair will see who can kill the most of the three targets, with the loser quitting for good. Babu takes down one target, Banke secures a second, and Babu, though wounded, is tended to by Phulwa as the plot thickens with personal stakes.

To test loyalties and desires, Babu offers both Phulwa and Banke a night together, a lure that they both refuse, choosing instead to trust their own paths. The trio—Babu, Phulwa, and Banke—then team up to eliminate the third target, Triloki, with success fueling a brief moment of celebration. But the victory is hollow; Banke reveals a hidden fourth target, and in the ensuing confrontation, an unseen danger strikes: Banke shoots Babu, sending him tumbling toward a passing train and the edge of death.

We jump forward to a hospital room where Babu awakens with long hair and a beard, as if the years have snuck past him in a single moment of coma and reinvention. He cleans up, returns to life, and learns, through a cop friend, that after Triloki’s death Jiji mobilized her entire force to track him down, killed Phulwa, and left Babu heartbroken and vengeful. He vows to avenge every traitor and begins a furious rampage against his enemies, chasing down Banke and others who crossed him. Banke, now cornered, explains that he simply carried out his contract and that Dubey had betrayed Babu by revealing his address to Jiji. The revelation intensifies Babu’s resolve: he will not rest until all enemies are dead.

Yet vengeance guides him toward a surprising turn. A final contract arrives from the Dubey camp—and Babu refuses, choosing instead to forge his own path. He hands a new address to the emissary, signaling a personal motive strong enough to take on one last job. At the address, he finds Phulwa alive, and to his shock, she is there with his own child. Banke enters, and the truth unfolds: Phulwa and Banke had fallen in love, and Phulwa herself had arranged the betrayal that led to Babu’s downfall. Enraged and betrayed, Babu confronts them in a deadly game of wits and fate. He tricks Banke into a brutal version of Russian roulette, killing him, and then turns his fury on Phulwa, choosing vengeance over mercy by ending her life as well. He takes the child, a stark reminder of what’s been lost, and promises to raise the boy away from crime.

The final act follows Babu as he tries to build a future free from the violence that shaped him. He raises the child and keeps a wary eye on the past he can’t fully escape. In a quiet, chilling moment, the boy flips through a notebook and draws a simple family scene—mother, father, child—an image that grows unsettling as the boy slowly approaches with a gun. The screen closes on a single shot and the resonant, haunting line: What goes around comes around.