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