HUMSHAKALS - Movie Review

"Men have called me mad; but the question is not settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence – whether much that is glorious – whether all that is profound – does not spring from disease of thought – from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.”

– Edgar Allan Poe

Yesterday, we watched Director Sajid Khan’s latest offering, Humshakals, despite the negative reviews and comments. 

Three actors- Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh & Ram Kapoor have triple roles. 

Saif plays Ashok Singhania, a smart multi-billionaire industrialist, whose passion is doing stand-up comedy. However, he succeeds in making his audience stand up and leave!

Riteish plays Kumar, Ashok’s "best-friend from the 2nd Standard". Ashok often takes Kumar for a ride! Thanks to that, we get an aerial tour of London city!

Ram Kapoor plays Ashok’s Mamaji (Uncle)– KANS- Kunwar Amar Pratap Singh. He wants to usurp the Power of Attorney & take over the Singhania group of companies.

Then, we have two more sets of the same actors- one set consists of mental-patients and the other set has two-lab-assistants-turned-into-lookalikes and a dance-bar owner in Southhall.

Heroines Tamannaah Bhatia as Shanaya (Channel 9 TV-Show Host), Bipasha Basu as Mishti (Ashok’s Estate Manager) & Esha Gupta (Mental Doctor) don’t have much to do except express their surprise & shock. They also get to sing & dance on London streets & night club & dressed in night clothes in the mansion!

Source

They are supported by a host of actors like Satish Shah, Darshan Zariwala, Chunky Pandey etc.

Some points: 

 - There are catchy songs like the "Caller-Tune" song.

- The public understands Hindi perfectly in the UK, even Hindi jokes! Like in all Hindi movies, they sing and dance in the language!

- Check out for the parathey made with other ingredients! The chefs or onlookers never 'smell' what's being used for the preparation?!

- If the ParatheyWaaley Ashok & Kumar’s brains were akin to five-year-olds, how do the mental patients become so smart to think for themselves and to make their own plans to help?

- How can the waitress-chasing scenes & especially saree-pulling scene be explained from the effeminate characters?

- How are all the 3 sets of triple-role - 9 people- dressed in identical clothes in the climax?

- Signing & handing over property-papers in London’s House Of Commons in front of ‘Prince Charles’ takes the cake!

Watch out for the scenes that match with your sense of humour :P

Humshakals is a case of mistaken identity with over-the-top acting, direction, double-meaning-dialogues, impossible situations, mad scenes… a typical Sajid Khan movie.

There are two scenes in which we find Sajid Khan’s self-deprecating humor- officially announcing his movie- Himmatwala & his sister, Farah Khan’s movie- Tees Maar Khan as ‘severe torture’.

The idea of 'Comedy' & 'Slapstick Comedy' varies from person to person. I prefer the Kishore Kumar kind though this is supposedly a 'tribute' to him.

The line - “Hum Paagal nahi hai, Humara Dimaag kharab hai!” has been taken from Kishore Kumar's movie- Half Ticket.

(It means- "We are not mad, Our brain is out-of-order")

When I invited my hubby’s cousin for the movie, she had refused to come along saying, she’s not MAD!

Watch it only if you have time to spare & appreciate Sajid Khan's madness! 

My Rating- 2.5 / 5