REVIEW 397: HOUSEFULL 3

Release date:	June 3, 2016
Director:	Farhad-Sajid
Cast: Language:	Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Lisa Haydon, Nargis Fakhri, Jackie Shroff, Chunkey Pandey Hindi

One of the formulae most often visited by Bollywood comedies is the business of assigning a distinctive quirk to major characters in a story. The writers of Housefull 3 are clearly very enthusiastic about this device since they use it rather generously in their film.

And so: Sandy suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, which results in the emergence of his violence-prone, self-destructive alter ego Sundi every time someone utters the word “Indian”. Teddy is congenitally confused by words, for instance saying “tawaif” for “wife”. Gangster Urja Nagre (Jackie Shroff) has a penchant for coining acronyms at the drop of a hat, such as ATM for “Ab tu marega” and WTF for “Wednesday Thursday Friday”. And the film’s three leading ladies apparently speak such poor English that they fill their Hindi speech with literal translations of popular English phrases.

Not counting the insensitivity towards a serious mental disorder, the rest are ruses that, when intelligently used and well-timed, could actually make for a good, old-fashioned, rollicking nonsense comedy. Remember Mrs Malaprop from Richard Sheridan’s The Rivals and Dogberry from Much Ado About Nothing? The problem arises because writer-directors Farhad-Sajid and their co-writer Rajan Agarwal appear to have invested little thought in their film once they came up with a quirk per character. Worse, they over-use each one till kingdom come.

The ladies, for instance, dispense so many mixed, confused metaphors that you could fill up a few pages by just listing them. Here are some that I can recall off the top of my head: 

“kaamwaali gayee toh kaamwaali gayee” for “let bygones be bygones”

“bandook ke bachche” for “son of a gun”

 “nimbu ki roshni se door raho” for “stay away from the limelight” and

“ghadi ke upar” for “once upon a time”.

Firstly, whatever be the solo merit of any of these lines, picture a film in which one of these comes up once every few minutes and they get progressively less imaginative with each passing moment. Second, these lines are a poor quality lift of an idea from Bol Bachchan in which Ajay Devgn’s character insisted on speaking English although he was terrible at it. His version of “don’t poke your nose…” was: “When elder get cosy, younger don’t put nosy.” It was all quite ridiculously hilarious. Farhad-Sajid, who wrote the dialogues for Bol Bachchan, seem unable to even effectively borrow from themselves in this film.

That is Housefull 3 for you, taking the audience lightly with lazy scripting, skating along instead on the charisma and goofiness of its central male star, goodwill for many of the remaining cast members and occasional patches of witty absurdity.

The story is set in London where shipping magnate Batook Patel (Boman Irani) lives with his daughters Ganga (Jacqueline Fernandez), Jamuna (Lisa Haydon) and Saraswati (Nargis Fakhri). Patel refuses to get them married for reasons we discover by the by. A fake prediction – never mind what – by a fake astrologer (Chunkey Pandey) leads the women to request their respective boyfriends to lie to their Dad.

Ganga is a doctor whose football playing beau Sandy (Akshay Kumar), also her patient, must pretend that he is a paraplegic. Jamuna is dating race car driver Teddy (Riteish Deshmukh), who is compelled to play-act blindness. And the man Saraswati loves, aspiring rapper Bunty (Abhishek Bachchan), is forced to feign muteness. A subsequent misunderstanding results in another character thinking that Sandy is blind, Teddy is mute and Bunty is wheelchair bound. The result is confounded confusion.

That is not necessarily a bad thing. Confusion can be a good thing in comedy. Now that it has been used for centuries to evoke laughter though, it takes a helluva team to extract anything more than the usual clichés from a story of identity mix-ups, lies within lies within lies and other mad muddles. The makers of Housefull 3 are not that team.

This is what comes of pointedly aiming only at viewers who are easily pleased. The first film in this series – directed by Sajid Khan – was fun despite its unabashed stupidity (possibly because of it), but it has been downhill since then. Khan directed Housefull 2 and managed to extract some laughs despite the fact that it was crude and callous, featuring, among other things, a rape joke, a leering father-in-law making advances towards his future bahu, a crocodile biting Deshmukh’s bottom and a python latching on to Shreyas Talpade’s penis. Large parts of Housefull 3 are just flat.

The writing is also curiously confused and lackadaisical. For instance, when Patel introduces us to his daughters, he describes them with great pride as “sanskaari” girls, at which point all three are clad in Indian attire. Later, they are shown leaving the house surreptitiously in skimpy Western wear, to prove that they were fooling their Dad about their adherence to Bhartiya sanskriti and sabhyata. Yet in later scenes they blithely appear before Daddy in revealing Western clothing and he does not bat an eyelid, as though that plot point has been forgotten.

And oh puhleeeeeeease, do not bore us with that cliché that critics do not like light-hearted comedies, which is being fed to viewers by some producers. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Gol Maal and Chupke Chupke, Priyadarshan’s Hungama, many of David Dhawan’s collaborations with Govinda, Abhinav Kashyap’s Dabangg … I can rattle off the names of nutty films I’ve loved. The Akshay Kumar-starrers Singh Is Kinng, Welcome, Namastey London and Desi Boyz too had plenty to offer fans of humour.

And puhleeeeeease, do not confuse crassness with political incorrectness. Two of the best American television comedies running in India right now – The Big Bang Theory and Two Broke Girls – are terribly non PC and make all kinds of jokes directed at various races, religious groups and across genders. Thing is, they know how to be irreverent without being gross or creepy. Towards the end of Housefull 3, when each of the three male leads ends up with a woman other than his girlfriend in his arms, Sandy orders them to pair up with the right woman in these words: “apne apne maal ke paas jaao yaar.”

It is a wonder why Kumar – whose goofiness is perhaps the best thing about this film – does not realise that there is a place in this world and box-office success to be earned from understated comedy. I mean, Ajay Devgn persists with the Golmaal series but he has also tried his hand at the relatively low-key, thoroughly enjoyable Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, right? Kumar seems not to have the mindspace for something like that, although he clearly has the talent for it. Even within the arena of mindlessness and loudness, he seems to be taking his audience for granted too often with the likes of Housefull 3 and Entertainment (which, incidentally, was also directed by Farhad-Sajid).

Bachchan Junior has always had a pleasant screen presence, and it is nice to see him in a film after such a long gap, but his role here has very little meat. Deshmukh is one of the best comedians in contemporary Bollywood, but he is criminally under-utilised. The three women here are treated as visual attractions and nothing else, which is disappointing because Haydon was such a live wire in Queen (2014) and Fakhri, who is limited elsewhere, revealed a funny bone and a charming ability to let her hair down in the Varun Dhawan-starrer Main Tera Hero (2014).

The only actor other than Kumar who makes somewhat of an impact in Housefull 3 is Boman Irani who lifts the film in many of his scenes. Jackie Shroff, who deserves better, is wasted.

The indolence in the writing of Housefull 3 is best illustrated by the profusion of self-referential jokes in the film. I mean, c’mooooooonnnnn, how many times are we expected to be amused by Deshmukh breaking into Marathi in the heat of a moment? Is it really laugh-worthy that he addresses his girlfriend Jenny a.k.a. Jamuna in the film as Genelia? Yawn. And how many mentions of the Bachchan family will we hear around Abhishek? C’mooooonnnnn, think of something new!

Rating (out of five): *1/2

CBFC Rating (India):	UA
Running time:	134 minutes

This review has also been published on Firstpost:

http://www.firstpost.com/bollywood/housefull-3-review-a-lazily-written-flat-ensemble-film-2815258.html

Poster courtesy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housefull_3

Anna MM Vetticad,Anna Vetticad,Indian cinema,Bollywood,Housefull series,Housefull 3,Farhad-Sajid,Akshay Kumar,Riteish Deshmukh,Abhishek Bachchan,Jacqueline Fernandez,Lisa Haydon,Nargis Fakhri

REVIEW 282: ENTERTAINMENT

Release date:	August 8, 2014
Director:	Farhad-Sajid
Cast: Language:	Akshay Kumar, Juno The Wonder Dog, Tamannaah Bhatia, Krusna, Mithun Chakraborty, Johnny Lever, Prakash Raj, Sonu Sood, Dalip Tahil, Darshan Zariwala, Guest appearances by Riteish Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade and Remo D’souza Hindi

Animal biting man’s crotch – check.

Joke about physically challenged person – check.

Character/s rhyming lines – check.

Joke about dark skin – check.

The latest Akshay Kumar-starrer in theatres, Entertainment checks off many of the boxes on the reference list that seems to guide makers of mindless Bollywood comedies these days. It forgot one box though: it forgot to be funny. Take that from a person who enjoys slapstick when it’s well done.

This is not a film that merits deep analysis as would be evident from the storyline. Akshay plays Akhil Lokhande, a poor man in Mumbai who does a zillion odd jobs to pay his father’s hospital bills. He is shocked one day though to discover that that dad is not just a liar, he is also not his real father. The real deal was a billionaire diamond merchant in Bangkok called Pannalal Johri who cheated on his mother. As luck would have it, news of Johri’s death is announced just then and it turns out that the damned fellow has bequeathed his entire fortune to his faithful dog Entertainment. The rest of the film is split into two parts: the first, where Akhil with the help of his friend Jugnu (Krusna) tries to kill the dog so that he can claim his father’s empire; and the second in which Entertainment wins him over with his loyalty and they become best buds battling the film’s true villains, Karan (Prakash Raj) and Arjun (Sonu Sood).

Despite what I said at the start, it’s only fair to clarify that Entertainment is largely inoffensive and shorn of crudity. Although a dog does latch on to Arjun’s penis at one point, and elsewhere Jugnu gets caned in the nether region causing him to clutch that body part in pain, such instances are few and far between. Besides, at no point does Entertainment descend to the level of the yucky semen joke in Kyaa Superkool Hain Hum. Nor is it repugnantly misogynistic like last year’s Grand Masti – thank you Farhad-Sajid for that.

Unfortunately, the film lacks pizzazz. The premise of a man trying to steal a wealthy dog’s fortune has potential for humour, but Entertainment has no dum. The dog-is-a-man’s-best-friend theme too has great emotional possibilities, but that strand lacks heft here. This is surprising because debutant directors Farhad-Sajid have collaborated in the writing of director Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Returns, Golmaal 3, All The Best, Bol Bachchan, Singham and Chennai Express, and David Dhawan’s Chashme Baddoor. Despite their OTT nature, these were enjoyable films. Not all were mindless either. Yeah yeah, I know some of you assume that every critic hates all Shetty’s and Dhawan’s films. You’re wrong. There are others among you who feel all critics should hate Shetty’s and Dhawan’s films. Well, go ahead – judge me.

In Bol Bachchan Ajay Devgn’s character insisted on speaking English although he clearly knew nothing of the language. “When elder get cosy, younger don’t put nosy” was his version of “don’t poke your nose…” The writers and actor were able to sustain the quirk from start to finish with the former’s inventiveness and the latter’s comic timing. Of course it was silly, but it was digestible silliness perhaps because it’s possible to imagine a man unwittingly murdering a language, even if the portrayal was unabashedly over-the-top. Jugnu’s quirk in Entertainment though requires a stretch of the imagination so Nile-long that it’s tiresome. “I Rajini-can’t believe this,” he says to signify disbelief. Later: “…iski Anupam khair nahin.” (We’ve heard that one before! Yawn!) And then: “Tu aise Pankaj udaas banke math baitth.” Umm. Got it? He’s inserting celeb names into sentences and twisting them to suit his intended meaning. Now imagine being fed this non-stop for 141 minutes! Yawn to the power of 10!

This is a pity because Krusna who plays Jugnu is clearly born to comedy. Akshay briefly shows flashes of the timing that made him fun to watch in Desi Boyz and Singh is Kinng. Those films had taut narratives. This one has weak direction, repetitive writing and insipidity throughout.

Laziness and a disinterest in finesse show up throughout Entertainment. How could the team be so lackadaisical as to pass a spelling mistake in the acknowledgements? “We are greatful to…” Is this what happens when you take your audience for granted? Early on, the dialogue writing confuses “empire” and “umpire”. Choreographer Remo D’souza, in a guest appearance, yells: “Aisi baatein karta hai jaise isne koi bada empire khada kar diya.” Cut to Akhil holding up a finger while umpiring a cricket match. The CGI team too required greater monitoring. The fakeness of those white birds flying over Johri’s mansion could be spotted from a mile even by a technomoron like me. And over-enthusiasm in colour correction has led to mansion grounds with glaringly faux-green lawns and other unreally bright shades.

Even the songs by the otherwise reliable Sachin-Jigar are unimaginatively composed and filmed. They aren’t bad, just generic. The most appealing of the tunes and scenarios – Teri mahima aprampaar featuring Karan-Arjun wooing the same woman – is a poor cousin of the triangular Kiya kiya with Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor and Mallika Sherawat in Welcome. And is it mandatory for Akshay to whack a woman’s bottom in a group dance in every one of his movies?

There have been other films about compelling human-animal relationships. My favourite from recent years is the Jennifer Aniston-Owen Wilson-starrer Marley and Me. Entertainment fails to tap into the ocean of feelings such bonds can stir up. It doesn’t deserve better than to be dismissed with clichés such as, “My work requires me to review Entertainment – it’s a dog’s life” and “Entertainment lacks entertainment”. What else does one say of a film that makes Humshakals seem like it had substance and Kick seem cerebral in comparison? Nothing, I guess.

Footnote: Tamannaah Bhatia is the ‘heroine’ of the film. The character could have been played by any other woman and it would not have made an inch of a difference. That’s how marginal the woman is to the proceedings in this film.

Rating (out of five stars): 1/2

CBFC Rating (India):	U/A
Running time:	141 minutes

Photograph courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/ItsEntertainmentthefilm