Saturday 21 June 2014

Film Review - Humshakals




Triple Trouble

Film: Humshakals
Cast: Saif Ali Khan,Riteish Deshmukh,Ram Kapoor, Bipasha Basu
Directed by: Sajid Khan
Duration: 2 hrs 39 mins
Rating:  ½ star

Dear Sajid Khan,

Hope this letter finds you in the torrid pink of health and spirits. I was worried sick about you after watching Humshakals. It has been a tumultuous time since I came out of the theatre, while trying to regain my own sanity,  my heart also went out to all those who actually paid money to watch this farce in the name of cinema. I am dreading that you might have suffered the same fate as some of the victims who went to see this film.

Some people had the choice of leaving in the middle of it and I am glad they exercised it, but some of them actually left even before the interval. In all the years that I have been watching films, I don’t recollect such a sight.

Having endured Himmatwala, it appeared that your creative juices had dried up and it couldn’t have got any worse. But sadly, we were wrong.

Make no mistake,  I was well prepared for all eventualities. I practiced sitting on a cactus for two and a half hours every day to get myself ready for it. What I wasn’t prepared for was being water boarded at the same time. 

When I saw that the film is dedicated to Kishore Kumar, Jim Carrey and Peter Sellers my hopes were raised. But later I was glad that two of the three gentlemen are not around and I sincerely hope Jim Carrey never gets to hear about this film.

So what were you thinking when you came up with this story where a hopelessly miscast Saif Ali Khan plays Ashok who appears to be competing with the Mittals when it comes to wealth. His best friend is called Kumar (Riteish) and they don’t have an occupation in particular, except attend board meetings where the scheming uncle (Ram Kapoor) wants to take over the business empire.

I wanted to bury my head in my neighbors pop corn tub and wake up hoping that it was a bad dream when Ashok and Kumar start, growling, barking and behave like dogs.  The reason? A scientist gives them a mind altering drug called MAD.

I hope I am not speaking out of turn when I say that considering the kind of films you are making, a little bit of alteration to your mind won’t be such a bad idea at this point.

Now if the existing loony characters weren’t enough, you put in another set of the same guys with same names and faces. Logic has never been your forte but the lack of it  film plummets to new depths in this film.  And if that wasn’t enough, you introduced another set of the same guys so we had all these doppelgangers.

And pray, what were the actresses doing in the film? Apart from participating in songs and wearing short dresses I mean. Plus, the way the British have been portrayed I just hope a diplomatic row doesn’t break out between our two countries.  We can kiss the Kohinoor goodbye for another century now. 

The only funny bit I liked was when the hospital warden decided to torture his patients by showing them Himmatwala. I have an unsolicited idea for your next film – a character wants to commit suicide but he can’t decide if he should jump off the bridge or blow his brains off.  In the end, he decides to watch Humshakals to achieve his goal.

You were a genuinely funny guy on television Sajid bhai but what happened to your mojo on the big screen? Politically incorrect jokes can be fun if they are in the right vein but your gags directed at gays, differently abled people, dwarfs are anything but entertaining. And the lesser I say about the men in drag the better, I don’t want to remind myself of how Ram Kapoor the man fell for Ram Kapoor the ‘woman’.

It remains a mystery how you managed to rope in the actors. I presume they were paid a fat cheque. Saif Ali Khan made some terrible choices at the beginning of his career but none were as bad as this, he doesn’t have that knack for comedy, so please convey this to him. Riteish Deshmukh on the other hand managed to salvage some of the situation.

I will end by beseeching you to get well soon and earnestly request you by quoting a line from the film - “Hume torture mat kijiye sir, hum aapke pair padte hain

Cheers,
Sachin

Published in The Navhind Times, Goa on 22nd June 2014
www.twitter.com/sachinchatte 

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