This movie will take you back to those days when you had exams you weren’t prepared for. People around tried to boost your spirits up with these three little words. As if these words would magically change that maths exam into a drawing test. What’s worse is the thought of commandos on impossible missions and death lurking around the corner packed off with these three little words. As if these words would transform the enemy with rocket launchers in the war-zone into cheery schoolgirls in pig-tails singing nursery rhymes on stage. Know that lump in the throat moment?
That’s exactly the feeling that comes visiting when Sanjay Dutt, AjayDevgn (name changed to protect identity?) Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu and Mughda Godse finish their cheesy dance number during the opening credits showing us the finger… All thumbs up as they thoughtfully wish us, the audience, “All the best”. And soon, you bear the brunt of jokes that are not so funny. Sample: Devgn and Fardeen pour ketchup over Asrani out of spite only to soon realise that he’s Mughda’s father. Fardeen immediately: “Mujhe sauce hai… I mean ofsose hai” (“I sauce… I mean I regret”). Or “main T-series ki tarah coffee-series kholna chahta hoon” (never mind!).
Fardeen tries to get our sympathies with a confession that he’s got a Ph.D in Failure, his acting skills helping little to stop us from laughing. A few minutes later, he scratches his guitar, as if the strings were itching and inflicts us with his singing too when he does “Churaliya hai.” Remember the villain from Karz who used to communicate only with gentle taps on his glass? Here, Johnny Lever as Tobo uses a spoon and glass to hilarious effect with his spoof on the villain’s antics.
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Story in a nutshell: Fardeen and Devgn owe money to Lever and are about to let Fardeen’s big house on rent when Fardeen’s step-brother (Sanjay Dutt) shows up. The only problem is that Fardeen has been lying to his brother that he’s married to get more pocket-money. So when his girlfriend leaves after a fight, Fardeen makes Sanjay Dutt believe that Devgn’s wife Bipasha is his wife. Soon enough, the girlfriend returns. To complicate things further, the new tenant tries to move in and Lever wants his money at the earliest.
The film picks up momentum only on Sanjay Dutt’s arrival but the bad jokes continue. “Give respect, take respect,” the maid speaks in stereotyped South Indian accent, only to be told, “Tum izzat do, main tumhari izzat leta hoon” (you honour me and I will take your honour). Thanks to the source material “Right Bed, Wrong Husband,” a play by Neil E Schaffner and Caroline Schaffner, the situations arising out of the plot are a laugh-riot all right and the senior actors Devgn and Dutt pull it off with their flair for comedy.
How do you make a line like “Tere papa photographer they kya? Tu hamesha negative kyun sochta hai” (was your dad a photographer? You always think negative) sound not bad? Full credit to Devgn. Dutt’s charisma sees him through. When one of the goons asks him if he’s joking, Dutt replies: “Comedy toh main abhi kar raha hoon, beta. Action main bees saal se karta aaya hoon” (Been doing Comedy only of late, but I’ve been doing action for 20 years).
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What next? Slow-motion swagger, Dutt walks, goons go flying around and drop like flies. Rohit Shetty brings in such cheese-ball action choreography and song and dance in to the stage-play narrative to keep the masses happy and though badly written, you can’t suppress a grin when the situational comedy escalates in the second half.
Sadly, this fare best caught on TV when you got nothing else to do is the most entertaining film of the Deepavali releases.
sudhish kamath
All The best
Genre: Comedy
Director: Rohit Shetty
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Mughda Godse
Storyline: A struggling musician makes his best friend’s wife pose as his own, when his step-brother drops into town.
Bottomline: Bad writing, great situational comedy