Humshakals, Hindi Bollywood Film movie review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * 1/2
Hindi film review
<a href="http://www.mrqe.com/"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/"><a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/"><a href="http://www.aasra.info/"><a href="http://www..com/"><a href="http://www.thepioneer.com efilmcritic.com/"><a href="http://www.talkingpix.co.uk/"><a href="http://www.newyorktimes.com/"><a href="http://www.timesofindia /"><a href="http://www.tirbuneindia.com/"><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/"><a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/"></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a></a><a href="http://www.internationaltribune.com/"><a href="http://www.efilmcritic.com/"></a></a>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/"></a> Hindi film review
Johnson Thomas
Unbearably hideous!
Film: Humshakals
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Bipasha basu, Tamannah Bhatia, Esha Gupta, Satish Shah, Chunky Pandey
Director: Sajid Khan
Rating: * ½
After his ‘Himmatwala’ remake crashed and bombed at the box-office Sajid Khan must have been at his wits end trying to come up with an idea saleable enough for a producer to latch on to. He managed that end with a triple role heavy casting of A lister Saif alongside, B lister Riteish and character player Ram Kapoor. The cost was minimal and the audience got a triple dose of Saif in the bargain. The ladies section was filled up with a bunch of also ran’s namely; Bipasha, Tamannah and Esha, all pretty low on the marketability scale. So far so good. But did Sajid have to dip so low as to use a niggardly, pitifully underdeveloped script, probably generated from assembly line pickings? Sajid Khan, Robin Bhatt and Akarsh Khurana share credits for that. What credit, you may well question? The comedic dialogues and slap-stick routines appear to have been downloaded from the internet and old re-runs. To prevent the naysayers from crying wolf, Sajid dedicates this set to old stalwarts of the comedy genre- aiming for back-handed legitimacy. But what transpires on screen is simply a disgrace to everyone associated with the film.
The project must have started out as an attempt to triple the fun quotient but what you get instead is triple the misery. There’s no respite at all here. Even the songs, peppy numbers from a music standpoint, look out of place with their terrible choreography and horrendous costuming. The actors look terribly inept in their dance moves too.
There’s no real story to tell here other than a convoluted mix-up of identities with improbable, implausible plotting and archaically contrived set-ups. A billionaire Ashok( Saif) moonlights as a flop stand-up comedienne, His friend /lackey Kumar(Riteish) is a hanger on, involved with the secretary, Mishti(Bipasha). Mamu KANS(Ram Kapoor) is plotting to take over control of the company with help from a Dr, Khan. In comes another threesome, look-a-likes of the main three characters, to be used as doppelgangers in order to achieve those nefarious ends. Towards the end there’s another set of three to add more confusion.
Frankly, the threesome who scripted this monster probably did not sit together and ideate. It’s wild and weird and nowhere close to whacky or funny. The timing is off completely- both in the direction as well as in the performances. Chunkey Pandey, Satish Shah and Akash Khurana can’t lighten up the stress despite their best efforts. Saif, Reitesh and Ram work hard at it, but fail to generate laughs. Even the setting of the so called story in UK, appears more opportune than meaningful. This sort of laidback filmmaking is definitely not par for the course. This is a clunker that no amount of paid publicity can redeem. It’s Sajid Khan’s worst film yet, even worse than ‘Himmatwala’ which in retrospect appears bearable at least. Frankly, you need to be a ‘himmatwala’ to be venturing into the multiplexes for this one!
