Humshakals

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)

Rating: 1.5/5 stars

Sajid Khan completely botches up what had the potential to be a rib- tickling situational comedy of errors. With premise reeking of comedy gold, on his hands, and with a trio of multi-talented male actors boasting of impeccable comic typing, only a complete twit could have ruined this movie. And what's more surprising is that Sajid Khan has been known to entertain audiences with his no-brainer, madcap, situational comedies. But, since "Himmatwala", he seems to have completely lost his mojo, or maybe he just had a limited supply of mojo that has now been exhausted over the course of his first three, laugh- out-loud, humorous adventures. In fact, there are several scenes reminiscent of his initial three hits, which seem to be mutilated into something else. The jokes fall flat, the gags are tiresome, and the exceedingly sparse amount of buildups that start out as funny, quickly swerve into painful territory because of Khan's hackneyed direction.

It's criminal that the Director has completely wasted three powerhouse performers in the form of Saif Ali Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh, and Ram Kapoor, and despite their umpteen attempts, the three talents simply cannot salvage the crumbling ruins around them. Even more shameful is the fact that Khan seems to explore new territories where he can turn his actors into mere caricatures of themselves – scenes where Saif and Ritesh act up as insane canines and Ram Kapoor masquerading as a woman are unbearable to the point of being cringe-worthy. Heck, he even dresses up Ram Kapoor in a one-piece bikini! Which normal human being with his senses in the right place would ever do that? It's not just moronic, it's unethical! The less said about how the actresses are blatantly underutilized through the slipshod, inane proceedings, the better.

"Humshakals" seems to have rung the death knell on Sajid Khan's directing career, and only a miracle would seem him emerge from the ashes he has smoldered himself into. On a parting note, there a scene in the movie where Satish Shah, who plays the totalitarian warden of an asylum ward (Shah takes pride and displays an overt love for some of history's most notorious dictators such as Hitler, Saddam, Amin, and Gadaffi – one instance among the film's many tasteless and insensitive jokes), tortures dissenting inmates by forcefully making them sit through a copy of Sajid Khan's own "Himmatwala". Well, suffice to say, Khan has even outdone himself this time as far as competing from behind goes.

Sajid Khan! Why? Just Why? Why do you need to make films? OK, The story is just the confusion created by 3 doppelgangers (Humshakals) Based on just the above sentence, would you make a 160 minute long film? Only Sajid Khan would.. Saif, Ritesh and Ram will be seen in lead roles, whereas Bipasha, Tamanaah and Esha would be seen in Cameos (I would say) 3 Humshakals, one trio- Normal, second trio- Abnormal and the third one - Gays. This film is shameless- Jokes on people in coma, Gay Jokes, Racist Jokes, Sexist Jokes, and irritating Aakhri Pasta (Yes, Once Again!!!) Five silly songs just to increase the length of the film, a drug which can turn you into dogs, vodka and cocaine parathas and what not. Not to forget- Prince Charles speaking Marathi and Hindi.. It doesn't have a story- The film goes on with double meaning, offensive jokes for 150 long minutes. Please skip it, I would rather recommend you to watch Himmatwala, yes you read it right, on TV. Don't go for it.

Fresh from one of the biggest debacle in Indian cinema, Sajid Khan presents to you his tried and tested formula of brainless comedy. It is conspicuous that Sajid tries hard to tickle the funny bones of the audience. He doesn't shy away from using his own formula of confusion, using clichéd homosexual gags, imitation of actors, making fun of his own films and even copying scenes from movie such as scary movie which itself is a parody and not considered a classic by any standard. The movie is a no brain-er and in the starting half an hour makes you wonder whether it was meant only for kindergarten children. The plot has hardly anything to discuss, songs act as a loo break, acting flawed at some places and technical part, well let's say it was never a forte of Sajid.

But all faults apart though the movie totally departs from the established logic of world we see, it performs well in what it was meant to i.e evoke laughs. Yes the movie in parts do evoke laughs (even if its on the sheer stupidity of the movie )and the best part being it never takes itself too seriously so you could just join in the fun without straining your brain. Acting wise Ritesh has done many such roles so he seemed very natural, Ram Kapoor shows how good an actor he is by handling those cheeky scenes, Saif tries hard but frankly some scenes were not meant for him ,actresses hardly had anything to do but Tamanna shows potential. Overall if you are a movie buff and have been waiting for a movie this movie drought season this might bring you some respite, if you keep your brain at home also this is worth a watch if you want to enjoy a clean comedy with family, especially kids. If you are not a fan of Sajid Khan,Saif Ali or brainless comedy this one is definitely not for you.

Sajid Khan strikes back with his slap stick comedy genre with "Humshakals" but the problem is that there is not enough laughs to sustain 159 mins… So Sajid goes back to his "Housefull " mould of European mansions, swanky cars, heroines wearing skimpiest costumes and too many characters who are a caricature. Sadly for "Humshakals" it falls flat and what we get is a trash in the name of comedy.

The Story written by Sajid Khan of three sets of Humshakals of Ashok (Saif), Kumar (Riteish) and Mamaji alias KANS (Ram Kapoor), one set of Ashok who is heir to the multimillion empire of Sighanias, Kumar who is Ashok's best friend and Mamaji who is scheming to confiscate the empire from Ashok, another set wherein all three are mental patients Ashok, Kumar & Jhonny, and third set consists of Ashok and Kumar who are feminine by nature and Mamaji who is bar dance owner. CONFUSED well this just the beginning, Sajid thought that he could actually better Shakespeare's Comedy of Error but alas there is no story.

Screenplay should I say the lack of it credited to Robin Bhatt, Akash Khurana and Sajid Khan is just a shocker and imagination just goes wild. A sequence has a doctor giving a medicine potion which makes human beings act like DOGS and you see both Reteish & Saif acting like dogs well this is utterly insane in the name of comedy. The Dialogues by Sajid Khan and Adhir Bhatt is equally bad what with "Aap Meri Zindagi mein Aaye to Mere Bacche Ka Baap Ban Jaye"….

The performances by the ensemble cast is just too childish to laugh, for Saif I think this is his worst performance till date. Making faces does not suffice for acting and Saif is so bad when he is imitating actors. Reteish still gives you a few laughs but he could not salvage the mayhem around. Ram Kapoor looks completely lost all throughout the movie. Satish Shah as the warden hams all throughout. The actresses have no scope to act, they are there as eye candy wearing skimpiest clothes. I can still understand for Tamanah Bhatia and Esha Gupta who are relatively new and hence they did this film but why the hell did Bipasha Basu do this film she looks like a glorified extra in the movie.

The only good thing about the movie is the cinematography by Ravi Yadav which is good and catchy to the eye. Music by Himesh Reshamiya is extremely average, excluding "Caller Tune" none of the other songs are worth mentioning.

Sajid Khan's "Humshakals" has outdone Ram Gopal Varma's "Aag" in making Trash, and RGV's "Aag " looks like a classic in front of SK's "Humshakals". Sajid Khan has to relearn what is entertainment before venturing to his next project.

As I begin writing my views on Sajid Khan's Humshakkals, the thought that do come to mind is that how silly and crap a movie can be made with massive budget , high cost production, popular star cast and widely distributed by Hollywood studio Fox Star ? There are movies like Shahid and Bheja Fry with high quality content and shoe string budget ( 80 lakhs and 50 lakhs respectively, yes you read it right ) and yet managed to impress the audience. Why do we have people like Sajid Khan making films and yet actors like Saif Ali Khan are working with him ?

Humshakkals is a comedy of errors centered around 3 people who look alike each other.

From the disaster movies like Housefull , Housefull 2 and Himmatwala, comes another "H" titled Humshakkals in which the definition of Story, Script and direction does not fit it. Sajid Khan dedicates the movie to likes of Jim Carrey in the beginning but at least you tend to laugh at Carry's crazy antics. In Humshakkals, you will wonder how amateurish can Sajid Khan get. Imagine a scene where there is a chain of slapping between Riteish, Saif , Ram Kapoor and Satish Shah with Shah quoting it as Slapstick Comedy. Editing is horrible. The torture goes on for almost 3 hours. Art direction is good. Cinematography is nice. Songs are pathetic. Among all the actors, Ram Kapoor gives an honest performance.

Overall, avoid Humshakkals at any cost. Sajid Khan's movies had and never will work even if you uses "H" in his future movies. Garbage 1/5

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