Movie: Humshakals
Director :Sajid Khan
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Tamannah Bhatia and Eesha Gupta
Rating: *
Humshakals is an attempt at underestimating the audience’s appetite for mindlessness. Sajid Khan akin to a Rohit Shetty is desperate to create his exclusive brand of over-the-top comedy. He is one of a kind, but not the one to please. He makes a film like this trusting the audiences who have lapped up Housefull 2. There are newer faces and enter Saif Ali Khan to take his rare shot at slapstick comedy. Nothing but cacophony sustains throughout. Although the confusion is not as bad you feel for the nine characters, the screenplay is full of short-lived ideas extended into a nearly three hour result.
Success can deceive a maker like Sajid Khan. A set of sequences in Housefull and Housefull 2 are his inspirations and he stretches it painfully into an over-exaggerating exercise. The laughs come in like drops of rain in a summer. The most used backdrop here is the Lord Cray G Mental Asylum which has Y M Raj appointed as a warden. This shows you how obvious the atmosphere is. When the double and triple characters of the trio are showcased, the background score plays Adla Badla Ho Gayi, Confusion Ho Gayi. In this sense, Humshakals isn’t a film, it’s an experience. The trademark gay characters or references in his previous films continue too, where Ritesh and Saif are named Chinku and Pinku.
He’s honest when he takes a dig at his own result in showing Himmatwala as a cringe-inducing film. He doesn’t leave out his sister’s Tees Maar Khan either. These aren’t an issue really. When you see the three dressing up as waitresses, you hope the film is entering into an Aneez Bazmee-like territory. You aren’t spared then either. In the name of comedy, Saif and Ritesh whose mental state isn’t normal play with the medical equipment of an ailing father thinking of it as a video game. Those who were complaining for logic in a film like Holiday should take this ride to know what outlandishness is all about.
The total setup surrounding the successor of a multimillionaire company shows that the cliches are well in place. It would have been interesting to see how a David Dhawan or even the earlier comparision, Rohit Shetty added to this. They as makers have more control on the right balance of sense, nuisance, humor and emotion. The film has even Sajid Khan targeting a wholesome meal with all the dishes. There are too many gags to fall for and you’re tired to knock down his arrogant inexperience. A cocaine paratha is made and all are a high. So innocent is the character you are made to believe who senses no difference between atta and cocaine because of the similar colours. The ladies looked like offering some respite but no, they need to give ideas to the three on dressing up with low skirts, inducing men (you read it right) and dance. Keep the objectifying lines about female bodies aside, (what was exactly Ram Kapoor doing when he was describing his ‘body’ ?) Humshakals is an uninspiring film for everyone involved with it. Can someone please put more sense into Tamannah in choosing her Hindi film scripts ? And Sajid Khan, please take some time to make your next film. You need to gift your audiences some time to be prepared. Good luck.
Review by Srivathsan N. First published in Cinegoer.net