Cast: Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur, Pooja Hegde, Maniesh Paul, Chunky Panday, Jimmy Shergill, Mouni Roy, Rakesh Bedi, Kubbra Sait, Raje...
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur, Pooja Hegde, Maniesh Paul, Chunky Panday, Jimmy Shergill, Mouni Roy, Rakesh Bedi, Kubbra Sait, Rajesh Kumar, Ali Asgar, Manoj Pahwa, Rajpal Yadav, Johny Lever
Directed by: David Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
The last
ten years or so have been pretty unstable for David Dhawan as a filmmaker: his
films have become worse and worse (both in terms of the direction, and the
screenplay, let alone the editing which failed to establish anything even
remotely coherent) — I’m, of course, talking about 2017’s Judwaa 2 and 2020’s
Coolie No. 1 (both of which were entertaining owing to the fact that they were
so bad that they ended up being good) — and it was hard to imagine a truly
coherent film by him being made ever again. Skip to 2026, and we’re pleasantly
surprised, not only at the coherence of the film (in terms of the acting,
direction, editing or even the screenplay), but also at the way it feels like a
film he would make in the early 90’s with the likes of Govinda or Salman Khan;
it possesses the charm and the energy, along with a strong sense of conviction
that his last two films lacked, and the one-liners are actually funny this time
— its not funny because its bad or just because of the slapstick elements, but
because its actually well written.
It’s
hard to expect a director to be at the top of his artistry for more than three
decade — Woody Allen is a good example, someone who’s craft has visibly
deteriorated over the years — and David Dhawan isn’t an exception; every
director is bound to fail at some point or the other in their career, and David
Dhawan’s career’s trajectory has been adhering to this “convention”, and
because of this, as is the case with Allen, the highs feel really high and the
lows feel really low later on in his career.
The
film, while it is not as coherent as a film ought to be, wears its incoherence
on it’s sleeve: it’s this incoherence (might’ve been intentional or might’ve
been unintentional) that adds to the comic elements (look at the entire segment
of Baani and Jass’ “fling” and eventual marriage). The entire segment
basically attacks you (which one might mistake for a newer style he’s adopted)
but, you eventually learn that it was meant to be (?) so. I’m not by any means
claiming that any film of his (Dhawan) has ever had a completely coherent edit
(and/or narrative to a certain extent), but with his newer films, it’s just a
lot more in your face, which this film doesn’t do.
The
dialogues feel reminiscent of the ones we saw in Judwaa 2 and Coolie No. 1, in
that they are still in your face, but it surprisingly works here and doesn’t
make you wince, deriving pleasure whilst simultaneously being disgusted.
Regardless, the dialogues are nowhere as good as the ones we saw earlier in her
career. The jokes work most of the times, and even when it doesn’t, it does end
up getting a chuckle out of you. The actors’ slapstick performances further
enhance the effect of the dialogues, something we’re extremely familiar with,
but it doesn’t quite soar as high as his earlier films did (albeit, that might
be an unfair comparison). The jokes do feel a little out of touch at times,
with a lot of the overt sexual humour feeling a little bit forced.
The
performances are good, and definitely an upgrade for Varun Dhawan from Coolie
No. 1. His body language feels a lot more free here than it did in Coolie No.
1, and his facial expressions are more effective here. His performance is good
and is the main factor behind the audiences’ enjoyment. Mrunal Thakur feels a
bit too animated for more than half of the film, and her performance ends up
feeling a bit too forced. Pooja Hegde is comparable to her performance in
Housefull 4 (2019); her performance isn’t as animated as Mrunal Thakur’s, but
it’s animated nonetheless. Jimmy Shergill is also good, and unlike everybody
else, is subtly funny, though his character does feel eerily similar to his
character in Happy Bhag Jayegi (2016). Maniesh Paul gives a good enough
performance, and he does end up being the funniest one in every scene featuring
him (which is something to be expected from the sidekick).
When
Jass leaves his marriage over conflicting priorities, a new romance abroad is
upended by shocking revelations, forcing him to confront love, loyalty, and the
true meaning of commitment.
By Ravit
Mishra
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