De Dhana Dan

Starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty Katrina Kaif, Sameera Reddy, Paresh Rawal
Direction: Priyadarshan
Got to watching this Indian film at a multiplex theatre one very cold night in New York. If nothing, the film was worth watching for the decibel levels of the sound system in the theatre and the behaviour of the crowd. We often talk about how are film makers do not make the grade? Do we as an audience? Perhaps our cinema is loud because our audience is such. Yet another strange factor is that if the same predominant Indian audience can be so well behaved outside of the country where is it lost within?
Priyadarshan has a signature of his own and the choice therefore is that of the viewer. Caveat Emptor. The yardsticks of evaluating a humour piece are different. Good comedies with a sense of humour , more than just the slap stick variety have eluded our cinema surely in more recent times when our cinema has left the subtle and has chosen the loud as its defining style..
Chaos, the illogical, speed are factors that energize a Priyadarshan script. He has surely made for himself a place that is very different from the one cultivated with style and concern by the likes of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chaterjee.. Like many of his earlier films he sets out to present a laugh riot. This is a riot truly..
De Dhana Dhan gives aplenty . Good or bad is very individualistic in perception. One golden rule to comedy is brevity. This is a great challenge to our cinema. Schooled in the belief that a film should necessarily last over two hours , directors tend to go overboard and this could defeat the purpose of a well meaning comedy. Resultantly the audience begins to stop laughing at the gags. They begin to ask questions and look for logic. This can be counter-productive in the space of comedy cinema.
The narrative is people and incident packed. The story revolves around two friends Nithin (Akshay Kumar) and Ram Mishra (Sunil Shetty) who are no gooders. Both are hoping that fortune would walk in through the door. Nithin’s shrew and master (Archana Puran Singh) makes life difficult and his love life with Anjali(Katrina) is a prey to the vile of her dad (Tinu Anand) Ram’s girl Manpreet (Sameera) is scared that Dad (Manoj Joshi) would have her married to some money bag. Out there to marry her is Nommy Chada (Chunkey Pandey) the son of Chada (Paresh Rawal) who too is looking for the shortest route to wealth.
For different reasons all of them land up In a hotel Pan Pacific . A motley collection of people which includes Misa Heerapurwala (a lecherous Shakti Kapoor) the girl he hops to wed or bed Anu chopra ( Neha Dhupiya), a former Ambassador Lamba (Vikram Gokhale) a supari killer Kala (Johnny Lever) Mamu (Asrani) and Inspector Pereira (Sharat Saxena) . Chaos rules with crisis of identity or purpose and everyone is trying to conceal or reveal something. This part of the script has tremendous potential for a hilarious finish and you are hoping that it is going to be just great. Then comes the climax which literally takes you off guard.
A film like this does not give too much time or space to an actor to leave an impression. With characters walking in and out they are given time just to deliver and not leave an impression. However from among those who have some time it is the Priyadarshan favorites : Akshay and Paresh who get the best lines. Unfortunately when most things are happening, the script does not need Akshay and in a way this is the undoing of the narrative. Paresh’s timing and Akshay’s energy contribute to the film. The rest of the cast does nothing to leave any impression and this includes the inform Katrina and the dazed Sameera.
The film is recommended for the simple reason that beyond a point a laugh does not harm, even if you get the lurking feeling that the director too is having it at your expense.
L.Ravichander