Housefull 2

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 6th April, 2012
Time : 160 minutes
Director & Co-Writer : Sajid Khan; Writer : Tushar; Music : Sajid-Wajid
Starring : Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Ritesh Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade, Asin, Jacqueline Fernandez, Zarine Khan, Shazahn Padamsee, Mithun Chakraborty, Boman Irani, Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Johnny Lever

Two out of ten jokes will make you laugh. Three will make you cringe. The story is non-existent, making guest appearances only to fill in the blanks between gags. It stretches on for too long, has too many improbable twists and is a tough one to watch in one sitting.

The two families of Rishi Kapoor and Randhir Kapoor, hate each other. They each vow they will get their daughter married off to a wealthier person. Though neither of the daughters (Asin & Jacqueline) are of a meek mentality, they seem to go along. Two blokes (John & Akshay) pretending to be the well known son of a prominent businessman (Mithun) land up at the two houses. Despite the women being internet savvy, they never cotton on to this, neither do their dads, who with pound notes in their eyes, rush into an engagement.

Along with the bonafide son (Ritesh), his friend (Shreyas) and their respective love interests (Zarine and Shazahn), everyone now camps at Mithun’s house, accompanied by Mithun’s man Friday (Johnny Lever) and best friend (Boman Irani).

Like one of the Manmohan Desai’s masala entertainers, this one tries to pack everything into it – fight sequences, best friends turned enemies, cousin sisters turned enemies, brothers turned enemies, real son vs illegit son, a dacoit turned businessman, a villainous father, a father who suffers a heart attack, a female midget, a dancer brought in to create even more trouble and a marriage agent who is extremely irritating yet seems to be the only one around.

Funny moments include Ranjit’s cameo at the end, especially with the ‘beauty’ changing to ‘beti’, Asin practicing Akshay’s leer, Johnny Lever’s imitation of each of the heroes towards the end and several other moments of unintentional humour.

You walk in expecting the worst and at least story wise, the film lives up to the expectation.

PS : There is a clear division in our country - lots of people in the hall were loving the movie, laughing at the jokes. Equally, a lot were groaning with their heads in their hands

PS2 : Am not sure how this got away with a U/A rating, according to me, given the kind of material in the film (lewd jokes, crude references and songs full of flimsily clad females), this is unsuitable for anyone below fifteen.

Anjaana Anjaani

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 1st October, 2010
Time : 150 minutes
Director, Co-writer : Siddharth Anand; Co-writer: Advaita Kala; Music : Vishal-Shekhar
Starring : Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra
Two strangers, a man & a woman, meet while attempting suicide. The woman believes in ‘signs’ from up above. These tell her that she needs to live for a few more days. She manages to convince the guy of the same as well and they decide to spend the next 20 odd days having fun, fulfilling their ‘bucket list’. Will they fall in love ? Or will they commit suicide ? And if you cant predict the correct end, you need serious psychiatric help !


Ranbir is charismatic. Priyanka is fun in her opening scene but then seems to taper off. Some of the gags are funny (Ranbir’s gay turn makes him a promising candidate for the next Dostana instalment), some moments iconic (Priyanka changing into shorts in the back seat of a moving car) and there are some interesting merchandising ideas (named helmets, for example).


The music and background score is v good, the scenery nice & fresh, the central premise interesting but then the rest is a silly story that is unable to hold attention, is unevenly paced, has two unreal characters doing things that are just plain unbelievable and is at least an half an hour too long !


This is one of the scripts that relies totally on star power to transform it into something barely watchable. And the producers seem to know this as on their official website, no one else apart from the lead pair are mentioned in the cast. It has its moments but too far and few in between.

Housefull

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 30th April, 2010
Time : 155 minutes
Directors & Co-Writer : Sajid Khan; Writers : Milap Zhaveri, Vibha Singh; Music : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta, Boman Irani, Lilette Dubey, Jiah Khan, Chunkey Pandey, Randhir Kapoor, Malika Arora Khan
It’s a fine line between a goofy comedy and mindless slapstick degenerating into a farce. To my profound regret, I found this film more the latter than the former.


Akshay is a loser. He’s born unlucky and brings bad luck to all around him (including his girlfriend, Malaika who leaves him for the same reason). The only person who still tolerates him is his childhood friend, Ritesh, who works in a casino in London and is married to a co-employee, Lara Datta. Akshay’s luck seems to have turned when he marries the rich casino owner’s daughter, Jiah. But then enter Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, Boman Irani to play even more gags and set things up for a grand finale.

Logic is happily ignored through the film but then you walk into the hall with that expectation. I didnt laugh loudly at all throughout but can admit to being in the minority in the audience. I found most of the jokes either slapstick or too contrived or really clichéd, oft-repeated situations. A husband snuggling into his bed and finding a man instead of his woman, an elder seeing two men in compromising situations and jumping to the assumption they’re gay, a web of lies where two friends have to pretend to be with each others girlfriends / spouses…these have all been seen before and have been done nearly to death. There is a serious lack of new thought in the film, with rehashing old gags being the name of the game.


What it relies on to pull it through though is sheer star power. The combined looks of Deepika and Lara (along with small cameo’s by Jiah and Malaika) doing enough on the glamour quotient, especially thanks to the ultra skimpy clothing donned by all of the above.
And on the male side as well, we have Akshay, Riteish and Arjun, all of whom also find plenty of opportunity to dress up as well as parade topless. Boman, Lilette were wasted in roles which didn’t use any of their acting talents but reduced them to loud caricatures.



Sajid begins the film by paying homage to the likes of Manmohan Desai, Prakash Mehra and Hrishikesh Mukherjee but then delivers a film that does justice to neither. This may do well commercially but is loud, slapstick and mindless at best and insipid, clichéd and distinctly unfunny at worst. Watch at your own peril.