Housefull

Given that this movie is made by one of the worst directors (Sajid Khan), I wasn't expecting much. It did make me laugh in parts (mainly because of Akshay Kumar's comic flair) but 'Housefull' is pretty much full of crap. A jinxed Aarav, or whatever his name is (Akshay Kumar), tries to find happiness but everywhere he goes, things fall apart. He finally lands on the bed of Bob (Ritesh Deshmukh)and Bobba (Lara Dutta). They arrange for him to get married to their boss's daughter Jiah (Jiah Khan). However, on their wedding night, Jiah cheats on Aarav. A heartbroken Aarav attempts suicide in the Mediterranean but he is rescued by an airhead (Peepika Padukone). What follows is more garbage as the plot changes from one thing to another. This is hardly any different from the usual trash Bollywood has been churning lately, in the name of comedy. A lot of money has been wasted on it as 'Housefull' has been expensively shot in Italy and England. The sets are lavish and grand. The soundtrack is dreadful. Of the performances, Akshay Kumar manages to be funny again but his choice of awful movies is becoming routine. Arjun Rampal is the other actor who delivers a solid performance. Of course, it needs to be mentioned that 'Housefull' rips off several Hollywood films which I won't even bother listing.

Akshay Kumar didn't really have a good 2009 despite having some major projects lined up, with the box office response not living up to expectations. To some, that spells a loser, and the film takes an exaggerated response in having him play the unluckiest man on Earth, Arush, and he's so unlucky that Macau casinos employ him to walk their grounds to ensure winning streaks turn into losing ones. And House Full turns out to be one half of a familiar spin from contemporary Hollywood comedies before becoming its own film after the interval.

The first half spends considerable time developing the character of Arush, whom we see leaving his job to go back to stay with his best buddy Bob (Ritesh Deskmukh) and his wife Heetal (Lara Dutta), two casino employees in London. This segment turns out to be You, Me and Dupree as his unwelcome gatecrash turns the life of the couple upside down with his bad luck rubbing off into their home. Sometimes you can feel that the comedy here is just trying way too hard that it borders on the ridiculous and was flogging the dead unfunny horse, especially with the aftermath of Arush and Bob getting electrocuted.

Then it becomes a mix of a loose Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Heartbreak Kid, with Bob and Heetal matchmaking him with their boss's daughter Devika (Jiah Khan), and it seemed like the perfect match of the Traditional Indian Boy and Girl, only for a surprise to emerge when frolicking in an Italian resort for their honeymoon, and Arush meeting up with his One True Love with Sandy, played by the lovely Deepika Padukone. Comedy here came from Chunky Pandey who plays the hotel owner Akhri Pasta with a penchant of lying and construing them as jokes, and his over the top demeanour actually was remotely funny, even though you'd learn to take everything he says eventually with a pinch of salt, with one key lie being the cause for a running gag for Arush being hurried away from the scene by Bob and Heetal each time Devika enters it.

The story is about pretences, and how in the name of saving one's face and reputation, lies lead to bigger lies, stemming from wanting to impress family members. For Heetal, she has consistently told that she's married to a rich boy and living it up in a big mansion, doing so to impress her dad (Boman Irani) who has frowned upon her decision to stay in London with Bob. For Sandy, her lie involves something similar to her brother Major Krishna Rao (a stoic faced Arjun Rampal) whom she thinks will frown upon her relationship with the loser Arush, and hence both couples have set the tone for the second half after the interval, playing on the theme and rationale of being perfectly OK to lie if it's done for a noble cause, the definition of noble being quite narrow and for personal benefit.

But here's where the entire film lifts off into the comedic stratosphere, as the people they lie to begin to turn up, and lies leading to bigger ones, with the best parts being the case of mistaken identities which the couples have to continue playing it up, and by the midway mark of their gag, there's a convoluted web of relationships that one group has to play off the other in order to keep the truth from exploding. Somehow it also turned primarily into a guy's film, with the female leads in Dutta and Padukone being largely supporting roles, and the male leads getting into plenty of shenanigans filled with homophobic suspicions. With the arrival of Krishna though there's a tinge of Meet the Parents with Arjun Rampal taking on Robert De Niro's role as the military intelligence interrogator casting that wary eye (hand singals adopted as well) on Arush, whose propensity of being the worst jinx in the house getting conveniently forgotten.

If you're game for a madcap time where comedy stem from identities being swapped and the reliance of wits to get out of sticky situations, then this film is for you although you have to endure a lacklustre first half before the narrative picks up. It's almost like Akshay Kumar's De Dana Dan from last year with that spiderweb of fake relationship ties that will keep you engaged, with finely crafted musical sequences. We know AK can dance, and for all the flak Deepika Padukone got for being stiff, I thought she's slowly gaining her groove as seen by the numerous numbers here. My favourite song here will have to be Loser, but this film, thanks to its second half, had prevented it from tanking like one.

Housefull is undoubtedly wonderful comedy of the year for Akshay's acting and Ritesh's comic acts. Boman Irani steals the show especially in second half's. The movie has all ingredients for a watchable good movie. At least for this reason everybody should support the movie. The movie is OK with many funny moments.Nobody can forget the scene that takes place where everybody laughs.Sajid has won again without doubts from the audiences.The song "Apni Toh Jaise Taise" is surely fantastic. I feel that Indian audiences has been always supporting good comic movies and therefore Housefull will get maximum support to become a blockbuster hit.Finally I want to say only one thing that as an Indian whenever I see comedy movies I feel I am young and healthy.

From the days of 'Ikke Pe Ikka' to 'Heyy Baby', Sajid Khan has portrayed himself and his ideas as nothing but slapstick. Drawing enormous criticism for the stupidity that was 'Heyy Baby', he seems to have come to his best.... which doesn't put him on any sort of pedestal but certainly gives you fair returns for your ticket price. While paying tribute to film makers of yesteryears, Sajid Khan introduces us to his latest concoction of slapstick silly comedy - 'Housefull'.

Arush (Akshay Kumar) is such a loser..... smitten with bad luck, his remorse takes him to his childhood buddy, Bob (Ritesh Deshmukh) in London. The attempted comedy in this part, with Hetal (Lara Dutta) falling out of the window, the super powered Vaccuum cleaner and Prada leave you worried about the rest of the film. In the hope of eliminating his bad luck spree, Arush gets married to Devika (Jiah Khan), the daughter of millionaire Casino baron Samtani (Randhir Kapoor) but all is not well after they arrive in an Italian holiday resort. Chunky Pandey at this point provides some refreshing comedy, far better than any he has attempted. Arush meets Sandy (Deepika Padukone), they meet Bob & Hetal, they all meet Hetal's Pappa (Boman Irani) and they in turn meet Sandy's Anna Krishna Rao (Arjun Rampal) and in the end, they all meet the Queen of England.

The bits with Chunky Pandey and Boman Irani are indeed funny but out of the lead actors, Ritesh Deshmukh gets much of the fun dialogues and scenes whereas Akshay Kumar has to cope with being the loser who is put in impossible circumstances. Deepika was anyways only good at smiling so she gets to do that a lot here, Lara Dutta has given her best especially with the Gujrati dialogues while Jiah Khan remained skimpy at best. Chunky Pandey was very passable, given some funny dialogues and situations whereas Boman Irani rose to yet another challenge of being a part of this madness and yet standing out with such a convincingly funny character. Not only does he display his versatility but he rises above all with his spontaneity and hilarious expressions. Watch out for his remarkable thumkas while sleep-walking during a song.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy may seem over-qualified for this film but their rocking remake of 'Apni toh Jaise Taise' (It's Jhakaas!) and 'O Girl you're mine' with some hilarious lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya in 'He's such a loser' and 'Papa jag jaayega' make this a fun soundtrack.

Sajid Khan has by no means done anything revolutionary here. Pretty sure he didn't intend to either. 'Housefull' falls in the category of 'Welcome', 'Dhamaal', 'Partner' etc and not among the all time greats. Thus, you get a silly but crazy entertainer which thankfully in many parts is howlarious with some really funny one-liners. But then you also have inane slapstick with a vaccuum cleaner, tiger, monkey and laughing gas to no effect. These days, such scenes are just embarrassing to watch.....

Yes, be sure to leave your brain at home as they say and only then will you be able to enjoy this movie to an extent. After a dry spell that consisted only of live IPL matches in theaters, this is a comedy we need before some serious stuff that is lined up for the next 2 months. Don't spend more than Rs. 150 and you will agree that it was at least 'Paisa vasool'.

• 6.99 on a scale of 1-10.

I went to watch Hosefull by knowing clearly that this is a Sajid Khan's movie, and it has to be stupid and dumb. I watched the movie Housefull with my gf and very few audiences in the cinema hall. But I laughed and enjoyed the movie through out. I wanted to give a 4 or 5 rating, and even didn't wanted to right a review for the movie. But after watching worse (BC) and worst (Kites) movies one after another, I have to do some justification to the Sajid Khan's movie. So I'm giving Housefull a fully comedy and entertaining movie 8 out of 10, after watching Badmash Comapny and Kites. I gave Kites 1 out of 10 and wanted to give Badmash Company 0 out of 10.