In all these movies, the makers deliver on the promise of the prem­ise. They play on characters’ para­noia and keep peeling off the murky layers towards the big reveal at the end. But Baaghi 2 delivers paranoia of a different kind. The kind that assaults audience with excruciat­ingly high-strung action sequences synced to earsplitting background scores. These tactics of director Ahmed Khan are clearly overdone.

The plot: Military man Ranvir Pratap Singh aka Ronnie (Tiger Shroff), who is serving at the Kash­mir border, gets a call from his for­mer lover Riya (Disha Patani) out of the blue. Riya sounds distressed and wants Ronnie’s help. She doesn’t get into specifics but this is enough for Ronnie to take a one week leave from his base and travel all the way to Goa to meet her. There, Riya reveals to Ronnie the kidnapping of her daughter two months ago. She has exhausted all options and the police are to shut the case for lack of leads. Now it’s up to Ronnie to help Riya find her daughter.

Choreographer-turned-director Ahmed Khan is least bothered in taming Tiger Shroff, so he lets him loose. Shroff is given every possi­ble opportunity to showcase his dance moves and combat skills. It would then be redundant to point out that the story is driven not by its protagonist but according to the convenience of its star. Shroff is an ideal action star and above all this is an action thriller. He looks intensely charged up in action sequences and one can only imagine the hours it took to choreograph and shoot them with precision.

Pushing the central story in the backseat in favor of spectac­ular stunts makes the movie lose its urgency and purpose. Going back and forth to show the back­story of Ronnie and Riya’s doomed romance, and loaded with unnec­essary fight sequences and dance numbers, the actual investigative element of the story gets a short shift. When it dawns that they’ve wasted big chunk of screentime without moving the plot, Ahmed Khan and his writers all-too-con­veniently drop clues right in front of Ronnie that he can tail. I was left thinking: why didn’t they make Shroff’s character a shrewd investi­gator rather than a killing machine? That would have been a more fitting characterization.

As Shroff enjoys center-stage, seasoned actors like Manoj Bajpayee, Randeep Hooda and Deepak Dobriyal make do with whatever little elbow room they get. Hooda in particular has a few good scenes where he keeps the tone of the movie light and playful. And it’s great to see Prateik Babbar return to acting after his trouble with drug addiction. Ironically, though, he plays a coke addict.

Whatever substance Baaghi 2 misses, it tries to cover up with elaborate action scenes. A refresh­ing spin on the traditional action hero template would have given us a better movie. But at two hours and twenty-five minutes, the final product feels overstretched and endlessly boring for a straightfor­ward action thriller.

Two stars