Bloody Daddy is inspired by a French and a Tamil movie but which one is the best?

Shahid Kapoor’s latest action thriller Bloody Daddy might be deemed as a one-time watch by many but it has earned praise for its high-octane action. However, it is also worth noting how Bloody Daddy is a frame-by-frame remake of the Tamil film Thoonga Vanam, which in itself is a frame-for-frame remake of the French thriller Sleepless Night. 

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The film that is streaming for free on Jio Cinema, seems like an Indian take on the Taken formula as Shahid Kapoor plays a corrupt cop who fights against all odds to save his abducted son. With some stylish violence taking place against neon lights, the colour palette of Bloody Daddy can also remind one of the John Wick series. 

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While Taken redefined action hero dads saving their kids and John Wick has undoubtedly elevated the discotheque to an action wonderland, Bloody Daddy actually borrows heavily from its original inspiration, the 2011 French feature Sleepless Night which in turn also inspired the 2015 Kamal Haasan-starrer Thoonga Vanam. 

What does Bloody Daddy borrow from the other movies? (almost everything)

From Pokkiri being adapted as Wanted; to the Drishyam movies being remade as Ajay Devgn-led thrillers, frame-by-frame remakes aren’t new to Bollywood. But for audiences who found Bloody Daddy to be a breath of fresh air in the action genre, it would be slightly disappointing to note that Ali Abbas Zafar’s thriller takes a little too much inspiration for its best scenes. 

Be it Ronit Roy’s villainous druglord Sikandar Chowdhary randomly head-butting the hero to the hero’s son asking for lactose-free milk to the hero battling a fellow cap in a captivating kitchen fight, almost everything is borrowed faithfully from Thoonga Vanam and Sleepless Night. 

In fact, Ronit Roy’s maroon blazer is also heavily similar to the one worn by Prakash Raj’s character in Thoonga Vanam!

How is Bloody Daddy different though? 

If, by any chance, you’ve already watched the previous two films, then there’s no need for you to check out Bloody Daddy (unless you're a Shahid Kapoor fan of course). Perhaps the only thing that is significantly altered is incorporating the Covid pandemic and its numerous lockdowns as the narrative’s primary setting. But other than the Covid-induced paranoia, Bloody Daddy hardly brings anything new to the table. 

Still, it will be fun for natives of Delhi and Gurugram to watch their cities being represented for excessive crime and drug business! The opening shootout takes place at an eerily quiet Connaught Place and rest of the action unfurls in a fancy Gurugram hotel. 

Bloody Daddy. Thoonga Vanam. Or Sleepless Night? What should you watch?

With Kamal Haasan penning the screenplay and starring as the lead character, Thoonga Vanam is a compelling masala action thriller. Prakash Raj is clearly in his comfort zone, playing a wisecracking villain for the millionth time but it’s Kishore’s turn as the corrupt cop Dhiraviyam (Rajeev Khandelwal’s Sameer in Bloody Daddy) that takes the top spot. For those unacquainted with South Indian cinema, Kishore gained more popularity in 2022 when he played a similar tough cop in the Kannada blockbuster Kantara. 

But despite all its strengths, Thoonga Vanam can get a bit tedious as an ageing Kamal Hassan as an all-out action hero doesn’t seem that convincing. 2023’s Vikram still did a better job at painting him as an action star who can still kick butt but Thoonga Vanam can occasionally venture into “Vishwaroopam territory”.

Shahid Kapoor might appear as more convincing in Bloody Daddy and despite all the mimicking the direction and writing dabbles in, the stunt choreography team of the Hindi film does deserve praise. 

But, as expected, Sleepless Night will continue being the OG and it’s the best out of the three if you’re looking for a fast-paced, choppily-edited, hyperviolent action thriller. The plot involving a drug deal gone wrong and a son kidnapped in the course of one night is simplistic but when it comes to the hand-to-hand combat scenes and nail-biting tension, Sleepless Night has definitely aged well more than a decade later.