Directed by Adhik Ravichandran, Good Bad Ugly is a masala entertainer that pushes the limits to the point where the narrative starts looking absurd. Every second scene is a montage of the protagonist making a grand entrance where we hear somebody shouting in the background that he is back. There is absolutely no buildup in the narrative, and with each and every scene, the director tries to reach the pinnacle of emotion, which makes the film entirely ineffective. Names of dons and mafias are thrown around, and it is expected that you would understand how powerful they are. But why? Just because there is high-tempo music playing in the background? Coming to our protagonist, had he been any more powerful, he would have joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There too, I bet heroes with real superpowers wouldn’t have been able to match his aura. As if the narrative was not already comical, the protagonist is referred to as the Red Dragon, and let’s not go into the intricacies of why the nickname was given to him.
Also, all the other characters seem to be in awe of our protagonist. Because otherwise, how would you hype him up constantly? All in all, Good Bad Ugly could be said to be an ode to the mindless masala films, and if you are a fan of Ajith, you should definitely give it a watch, because otherwise it would be a task for you to sit through the entirety of the film.
Spoiler Alert
Why did AK surrender?
At the beginning of Good Bad Ugly, we were briefly told about the kind of man AK was before he got married to Ramya and his life changed forever. AK was one of the dreaded mafia bosses who not only owned the Indian black market but also had influence over various international markets too. It had all started when a young boy from Madurai had come to Mumbai to work with the Mastaan gang. Mastaan bhai wanted to test the boy first and only then include him in his gang, but the boy felt humiliated for not being welcomed, believing that he had a lot of potential. A Korean mafia boss by the name of Kim Dugan was coming to India at this time. All of the syndicates were aiming to kill the man, but AK made sure that not only was Dugan safe, but he was escorted back to Korea alive. After the news of an Indian boy helping out Dugan got to Korea, AK was called there by none other than Wong Lee, the godfather of the Korean underbelly ( a nod to the popular Korean actor Ma Dong-seok aka Don Lee). After working with Wong Lee, AK went to the US for a mission, and he worked quite closely with Don Rick (rhymed with John Wick for a reason, I believe). AK also developed a close bond with a Spanish professor who was the mastermind behind many heists that had shaken the entire world. Yes, needless to say, after stating these facts, you might get the idea that the film is a spoof or a parody, but it isn’t so.
Good Bad Ugly takes itself very seriously. And it wants you to believe that the infallible AK was actually capable of doing what he did. Coming back to the narrative, AK became the undisputed king of the underworld, and the entire world swore allegiance to him. AK got married, and soon his wife gave birth to a son, Vihaan. Ramya told AK that she didn’t want her son to bear the consequences of his actions. She told him that if he wanted to stay with the family, then he needed to confess to his crimes and surrender to the authorities. AK might have been the most dreaded criminal, but he didn’t bat an eye before handing himself over to the authorities to make his wife realise how much he cares for his family. For the next 17 years, AK stayed in prison, and Ramya told her son that her father was on a work trip. Yes, that was the reasoning given to the boy, and somehow AK managed to make him believe it by making video calls from prison and putting on a fake background to give his son the impression that his father was on a flight.
Who framed AK’s son and why?
Ak’s son Vihaan, was very disappointed when he got to know that his father wouldn’t be there for his 18th birthday. He told his father that if he didn’t come and meet him on his birthday, then he wouldn’t talk to him ever. AK saw grief in the eyes of his son, but he had to be in prison for approximately 90 days more. He convinced the authorities to let him out early on good behavior, and obviously they agreed because why not? We had seen how AK helped the police maintain peace inside the prison. There were times when dreaded criminals tried breaking out, but AK made sure that that never happened. So after AK was released, he went straight to Spain, where his wife was posted. He was happy that he would finally be able to spend some time with his son, but then something unprecedented happened. Vihaan was on a date with his girlfriend, Nithya, when suddenly some goons walked in and started misbehaving with them.
They killed Nithya in front of Vihaan’s eyes, after which he fell unconscious. He woke to find himself behind bars. The prosecutor charged Vihaan with possession and consumption of drugs. The defendant was told that he tried to negate the allegation, and then the blame for Nithya’s murder would also be put on him. Ramya believed that somebody who wanted to take revenge on AK had framed their son, but it wasn’t so. Back in the day, Ramya, who worked as the chief advisor to the Indian embassy in Spain, had helped the authorities prosecute a minor, who had killed a girl brutally. That minor was named Jammy, and he grew up to become a dreaded criminal. Jammy had a twin brother named Johnny, and both of them had kept that fact hidden from the world. They did this to basically gain leverage and take people by surprise. Even the mafia boss, Babel, for whom Jammy worked, didn’t have any clue that he had a twin. After coming out of prison, Jammy and Johnny built their own empire. They started working for Babel and became his right-hand men. The twin brothers were in charge of Babel’s hidden bank, which laundered all the black money in the entirety of Europe. The brothers worked very closely with Big Daddy, another one of Babel’s associates, and together they ruled the entire European market. But then AK arrived at the scene, and he found out about their intentions. AK didn’t tell Ramya that Jammy wanted to take revenge on her, not him. He didn’t want Ramya to feel guilty for her actions. She was a righteous woman, and she had done everything in her capacity to lead an honest life. Once Jammy and Johnny got to know who AK was, they firstly tried to trick him into believing that their intentions were pure, and then, when that ploy didn’t work, they tried to threaten him. AK destroyed their bank, and he warned them to leave his son out of their mess if they wanted to stay alive.
Was Nithya Dead Or Alive?
AK found out that Jammy and Johnny were hiding on Babel’s cruise ship, and it was from there that they were orchestrating attacks on his family. AK had contacts in the right places, because of which he was able to save his wife and son, as otherwise the twin brothers would have killed them. Once AK tracked the brothers down, he found out that Nithya was not murdered that day; instead, she was with Jammy, having the time of her life. Nithya had been given the task of getting close to Vihaan, making him believe that she loved him, and then taking advantage of him when he let his guard down. Jammy had been following Vihaan for more than a year. He knew where he went and what he did, and so it was easy for him to frame him when the time came. Johnny felt that it was an unnecessary move that could land them in trouble. He asked his brother to let the boy go, but how could Jammy forget that he had spent years in prison because of Ramya? So Nithya was alive, and she just wanted to spend her entire life with Jammy. AK made sure that his two trusted men, Baby Tyson and Jaeger, went inside the prison and stayed with Vihaan to keep him safe. The entire criminal justice system of Spain was a mockery, so let’s not go into the intricacies of how Baby Tyson made his way into the prison and how he could do things as he wished. There came a time when the brothers had to choose between their lives and that of Nithya’s. Jammy loved Nithya, but not enough to put his life into jeopardy. Nithya almost fell from a cliff in all the hullabaloo, but somehow Jammy latched onto her. Both of them would have fallen from there, but Johnny came just at the right time and shot Nithya. He told his brother that Nithya’s death would solve things for them too, as they would be able to prove their arguments in the court. They could put the blame on Vihaan and not let him reunite with his father. Vihaan was told about what Nithya had been up to. The boy was disappointed, as he truly loved her. But love had made him blind, and he could see that she was deceiving him all along.
What did AK do to Johnny and Jammy?
In Good Bad Ugly’s ending, we saw that, firstly, AK made sure that Babel came to know that Jammy had a twin brother, and that they were deceiving him. Babel ordered a hit on the brothers and AK, but the latter, using his James Bond-ish car, was able to kill each and every criminal that came his way. AK handed over the twin brothers to the authorities, and they were found guilty by the court. Jammy and Johnny were not going to give up so easily, and AK knew this about them. He had his informers in the right places, and he got to know that the brothers were planning to break out of prison with the help of a Colombian gang. Jammy and Johnny thought that, for once, they would be able to outplay AK, but they didn’t know that he was not some local criminal but literally the master of the universe, it seemed. AK got hold of them, and though it was not shown what he did with the brothers, I believe that he shot them dead. Probably, AK knew that they would keep creating trouble so long as they were alive. As for Babel, we didn’t get to know what happened to him. I believe Babel will try to take revenge on AK in the future, but until then, the universe boss could have some downtime with his son and his family, something that he had craved for the last 17 years.
