Saturday, July 15, 2006
Golmaal
Even a mindless comedy does have the pretense of a plot and characters with some redeeming features; Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal has neither. Not that this lapse comes in the way of the director delivering a crowd pleasing comedy with more testosterone than brains. But try telling someone the plot in a few words, and you’ll be stumped!
Four overgrown ‘students’ live in a state of perpetual boyhood, cadging money out of gullible victims and cavorting with bikini clad women in Goa (or Mauritius!). The leader of this band of aimless ruffians is Gopal (Ajay Devgan—quite comfortable in a comic role), and with him, bound with the common thread of their homelessness are Madhav (Arshad Warsi), Lucky (Tusshar) and Laxman (Sharman Joshi). The last is the only bonafide student of the four, and after then pull off a couple of scams in his college, even he gets thrown out by the hysterical prinicipal (Manoj Joshi).
Chased by a creditor (Mukesh Tiwari), they blunder into the bungalow of a blind old couple (Paresh Rawal-Sushmita Mukherjee) and learn that they are waiting for their grandson from America. By some odd play of events, Laxman passes of as the grandson with Gopal providing the voice, though it’s Lucky who is mute. Then there’s the girl next door (Rimmi) over whom all four squabble.
Nothing actually happens – just the four clowning around, and trying to prevent getting caught. There’s a hilarious scene in which one of them has to keep pulling a mattress with a sleeping cohort on it, as the blind lady sweeps the room! More gags like that, and the audience made up largely of taporis and college kids were bringing the house down.
There is a touch of the risqué, but the antics of the four are not of the Kya Kool Hain Hum variety. And they move from one gag to the next at a breathless pace—when there’s need for a song, they put in a “dance competition” or some such. The songs are peppy and nicely choreographed.
What makes the film work for its target audience are the snappy lines and the fabulous chemistry between the four actors— they allow each to have his moment, without butting in. Arshad Warsi is an accomplished comedian, but the director did manage to control Sharman Joshi and get a cutely loony performance out of Tusshar. Unfortunately Paresh Rawal and Sushmita Mukherjee get just one brightly spotlit moment--a flashback scene and song in the style of old black and white 30s’ films.
Don’t look for logic, pretend you are fourteen, and Golmaal can pass off as money’s worth of entertainment.
Four overgrown ‘students’ live in a state of perpetual boyhood, cadging money out of gullible victims and cavorting with bikini clad women in Goa (or Mauritius!). The leader of this band of aimless ruffians is Gopal (Ajay Devgan—quite comfortable in a comic role), and with him, bound with the common thread of their homelessness are Madhav (Arshad Warsi), Lucky (Tusshar) and Laxman (Sharman Joshi). The last is the only bonafide student of the four, and after then pull off a couple of scams in his college, even he gets thrown out by the hysterical prinicipal (Manoj Joshi).
Chased by a creditor (Mukesh Tiwari), they blunder into the bungalow of a blind old couple (Paresh Rawal-Sushmita Mukherjee) and learn that they are waiting for their grandson from America. By some odd play of events, Laxman passes of as the grandson with Gopal providing the voice, though it’s Lucky who is mute. Then there’s the girl next door (Rimmi) over whom all four squabble.
Nothing actually happens – just the four clowning around, and trying to prevent getting caught. There’s a hilarious scene in which one of them has to keep pulling a mattress with a sleeping cohort on it, as the blind lady sweeps the room! More gags like that, and the audience made up largely of taporis and college kids were bringing the house down.
There is a touch of the risqué, but the antics of the four are not of the Kya Kool Hain Hum variety. And they move from one gag to the next at a breathless pace—when there’s need for a song, they put in a “dance competition” or some such. The songs are peppy and nicely choreographed.
What makes the film work for its target audience are the snappy lines and the fabulous chemistry between the four actors— they allow each to have his moment, without butting in. Arshad Warsi is an accomplished comedian, but the director did manage to control Sharman Joshi and get a cutely loony performance out of Tusshar. Unfortunately Paresh Rawal and Sushmita Mukherjee get just one brightly spotlit moment--a flashback scene and song in the style of old black and white 30s’ films.
Don’t look for logic, pretend you are fourteen, and Golmaal can pass off as money’s worth of entertainment.
Labels: Cinemaah
