Mid-Day Opinion: Do babies die without karma, care?

Huma Qureshi as Baby Karmarkar in Nachiket Samant’s crime thriller ‘Baby Do Die Do’

There's an ‘item song' in Nachiket Samant's Baby Do Die Do (BDDD). Co-producer Saqib Saleem is the ‘item' in it. He's dancing half-naked at a gay bar. The song is called ‘Alpha kyun'!

Ideally - no pun's unintended, neither is a reference. The Hindi film that released in theatres, alongside BDDD - an actioner, also about a hit-woman, blindly killing, upon instructions of a
father-figure, is Alpha.

As the credits roll in BDDD, you see Saqib listed as Alpha Kyun (for co-producer). This is pure coincidence, Nachiket, the film's director, tells me: "We shot the film three years ago." At which point, they couldn't have known about Shiv Rawail's Alia Bhatt starrer, Alpha, of course.

Nachiket reasons, "The song itself is a statement on alpha culture. We were attempting to grab attention, like the Bhaag DK Bose track, that had gone viral, and helped the film, Delhi Belly, immensely."

As for Apha Kyun at the end, Nachiket insists he had more "crazy credits" in mind, that would have landed better, but it's the only one that's there.

Alia Bhatt as Sita in Shiv Rawail's action film ‘Alpha'

BDDD is a blast, for how it begins. Check out that top shot of black umbrellas in the rain; cool, low-fi rap underlay, from a solidly eclectic soundtrack - as the camera travels through the city's underbelly, in "neon vibe", like a crime-thriller graphic novel.

Or how the courtship between the film's deaf-mute hit-woman, and her Sikh suitor, Siddhu (Rachit Singh) - the only sensitive/sensible character - plays out over B&W slates of silent cinema!
As it is, Mumbai is a hard muse. It's been reduced to a cliché, over time.

Nachiket is primarily a Pune-based filmmaker. BDDD opens with scenes inside an abandoned hotel that, I realised, is the Juhu Centaur, where Danny Boyle had also shot Slumdog Millionaire (2008), freshly looking at Mumbai anew.

The original title of BDDD, Nachiket tells me, was Sejal Supari. It's a story by Jasmeet K Reen (director, Darlings), Parveez Sheikh (writer, Darlings, Queen, Tubelight), that Huma Qureishi had handed to Nachiket.

Only, actor-producer Huma was clear, she wanted a Marathi protagonist. Sejal's Gujarati. Huma has played the Gujarati celeb-chef, Tarla Dalal, before.

Baby Do Die Do is, of course, a direct English transliteration of her Maharashtrian lead's name, Baby Karmarkar - breaking down syllables, in dumb charades; or the forbidden words, if you were playing taboo, instead!

The reference is, perhaps, to an unrelated Baby Patankar - Mumbai's infamous, real-life slumlord, and alleged drug-dealer. The umbrella fitted with gun + silencer is Baby Karmarkar's weapon of choice.

The gadget, in a snazzier form we remember with Colin Firth in Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014). She takes out her targets at crowded spaces.

Does the Mumbai masala realism of Baby Karmarkar in Baby Do Die Do overshadow the deliberate absurdity of Sita (Alia Bhatt) in Alpha, set in a surreal neverland? "They're very different styles of films," Nachiket argues. I agree.

He's previously directed Huma in Single Salma (2025), also produced by her. Besides Double XL (2022), that was a strongly self-referential take on body shaming - BDDD, that's better than both, is Huma's third production, starring herself.

This is the hardest yet best way to game showbiz - either you wait for the work you love, forever; or simply create it, for yourself, foremost. Indie sets you free.

The production company, with her brother, Saqib, is called Saleem Siblings. Siblings have always run firms, whether inherited, or as founders.

They've been mostly brothers, though - Warner Bros, Lehman Bros, the Ambani brothers (split), Hinduja brothers… There's a character called ‘Bambani' in BDDD. ‘Induja' for a realty giant is
widely advertised.

Sikander Kher brilliantly plays the menacing builder of a shady skyscraper, Lucky Towers. Baby Karmarkar is a contract-killer for real-estate sharks, with ‘Papa' (sturdy Chunky Panday), drawing deals.

Everywhere you go, the world is flat. Huma isn't quite Uma (Thurman) from Kill Bill. She holds a quiet swag of her own.

I had to skip BDDD, right upon release, due to the rains - somehow managed to catch first day, first show of Alpha, still. The latter is all-plot - wish there was none! BDDD is sheer, quirky world-building.

Even in the direction/quality of Vasan Bala's Monica, O My Darling (2022, where Huma plays the title role) - although without quite the same stamina to sail through to the end. This issue with the film's final lap is often diagnosed as the curse of the second half.

I ask Nachiket, if he believes in it? He says, "I'm absolutely curious about the film's response. I was only fearful of not being able to engage, and hold the [audience's] attention. There were so many interesting characters we could've spent time with - but this isn't expensive art, and it had to come together in two hours."

Mayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture. He tweets @mayankw14
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