Baaghi 4 Review | A Blood Fest Where Audiences Are The Casualty

Several of the year’s most anticipated films, from War 2 to Coolie and now Baaghi 4, arrive with immense hype, yet refuse to rise up to the trust of audiences who keep showing up for them. Action cinema has been limping for a while, saved only by outliers like Lokah Chapter 1 : Chandra (2025) that embrace storytelling first as part of the job over the hollow spectacle of the (hypermasculine) superstar. In this vacuum, even a film like Saiyaara (2025) revives a heartbeat by delivering something beyond two relentless hours of men clashing in slow motion. The discontent is not with action cinema itself but with the monotony of mindless action cinema. Enter Baaghi 4 (2025), a miraculous fourth entry in a franchise no one truly remembers past its first chapter. How the series crawled its way to four installments is as mysterious as the logic behind its script. Tiger Shroff once again plays Ronnie, a man whose tragic accident leads to a coma—though, judging by the film’s writing, he might not be the only one asleep.

For an action film to engage with the psyche isn’t exactly new, but the memory-loss trope here makes one envy those fortunate enough to erase the experience of Baaghi 4. Tormented Ronnie now wanders the disorienting terrain of blurred illusion and reality. He brawls with imaginary men, collapsing into self-doubt mid-fight. Hallucinations and fractured truths all circle back to one presence: Alisha (Harnaaz Sandhu), the love of his life. Yet the question lingers—is she tangible or merely a projection of his unraveling mind? Reminds one of Sandy (Deepika Padukone) when Mukesh (Arjun Rampal) cannot believe his eyes when he spots her strolling around the abandoned film set in Om Shanti Om (2007) but here nobody including the audiences know if his Shanti ever existed…or knew how to act.

The loss of his loved one brings out the Sanjay Singhania in him from Ghajini (2008), turning him into a violent man thirsty for revenge. Everyone around him insists on the fact that she never existed, even as a darker suspicion simmers beneath: was the so-called accident staged? And if so, should it have been us, the audience, in his place? 

The story takes place in Chandarpur, a town so geographically “perfect” it practically hands you a brochure—beaches, mountains, jungles, all within a casual stroll, so you never have to think about it. Ronnie’s brother Jeetu, played by Shreyas Talpade (and perhaps the only actor here trying to act), attempts to lift his spirits by dispatching a sex worker Olivia, or Pratishtha as she’s also called, played by Sonam Bajwa. But Ronnie, much like the audience, is nursing a different wound altogether: brain injury. So instead of falling for her advances, he recruits her to clean his house. She ends up scrubbing every corner of his flat before he finally softens and confides in her about Alisha.

Directed by A Harsha and scripted by producer Sajid Nadiadwala, the film spends two full songs in its opening half-hour before arriving at the supposed premise. Its tagline promises “This time, he is not the same” and for once, marketing doesn’t lie—he is actually worse. A film like Kill (2024) demonstrated how combat sequences can be brutal, kinetic, yet meaningful, never reduced to mere filler. With Baaghi 4, the expectation of blood-soaked axes, bare-chested men, and testosterone-laden shouting matches is delivered, but action without intent is just noise. Baaghi 4 mistakes its Adult certification for a free pass to stage fountains of blood, splashing it about like festival colour during Holi. What emerges isn’t ferocity, but formula—recycled, tired, and stubbornly unaware of its own absurdity.

Sanjay Dutt is Chacko, a bizarre hybrid of Bobby Deol in Animal (2023) and his own Kaancha Cheena in Agneepath (2012). Baaghi 4 instead of having a hero’s sidekick, introduces the villain’s sidekick as Saurabh Sachdeva along with the shrewd cop played by Upendra Limaye. Debutante Harnaaz Sandhu takes on a dual role, embodying both Alisha and Avantika—the doppelgänger love interest for our blood-thirsty men, Ronnie and Chacko. The plot leans entirely on mistaken identity, yet the confusion never rises above its own absurdity. Alisha and Avantika resemble one another, but so do their men who are the same dull alpha-male, bearded archetypes, and the revenge saga drags under this sameness. It’s chaotic, confusing, occasionally funny, and relentlessly repetitive—a film that feels stuck in its own formula. Through every masked attack and self-aware nod to Animal, Ronnie and Chacko remain untouchable and impervious onscreen, while the audience leaves battered and bruised. 

This quest to attain Alisha/Avantika is driven by genuine love tangled with obsession, forming the spine of the saga. Tiger as Ronnie shows promise in glimpses, even offering moments of his most sincere acting yet. He commits fully to the action sequences, diving in with the kind of athleticism and energy that defines him. Yet, the film’s relentless focus on spectacle leaves little room for him to explore depth, constraining his potential. There’s an odd tension between his earnestness and the film’s need for adrenaline, making you wish the narrative slowed down just enough to let him breathe. Overall, the constant twists, sudden betrayals, and endless fights pile on confusion and stoke the fire, yet the storytelling struggles under glaring plot holes and unresolved threads. The spectacle keeps you hooked, but the narrative logic often takes a backseat, leaving moments that should land with impact feeling oddly hollow.