Leave your thinking caps home and come enjoy this madcap movie. With Bollywood film-makers finding success through the comedy formula, more and more films are being made in this genre, which is a welcome development. If you have been watching too many Hollywood comedies, this flick may fall several notches below your standards. But if you are one of those who used to enjoy loud slapstick comedies and were jolted out of your sensibilities by the more intelligent humour which was on display in Dil Chahta Hai, you will find watching ”Masti” a pleasure. Although not in the same class as say, “Hera Pheri” or “Hungama”, this movie is still a lot of fun.
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Plot:
To sum it all up, lets say DCH meets Pati Patni aur Woh meets…err….Murder? Tum?…
Well, maybe I should elaborate a bit more. It’s about three college buddies (the DCH part) and their respective love lives. Or more accurately, their married lives. After their fun-frolic-flirting days are over, they part and lose touch. All three are married by the time they meet again. And all of them are having different kinds of problems in their relationships.
Here, I will have to introduce the characters. So meet Meet (well, that’s his name!) whose wife Aanchal is a pile-on. She practically has a hotline to his cellphone and keeps buzzing him every few minutes to remind him of her existence. Next we come to Prem whose testosterone seems to be the most active among the three friends. Unfortunately for him, his wife Geeta is extra-religious and is perennially observing some fast or jagratas. The third of the trio is Amar, who lives with his wife Bindiya and Ma-in-law who is a WWF (World Wresting Federation, not World Wildlife Forum) member and both of them ensure that Amar maintains a strict regimen of diet and exercise.
Fed up with their circumstances, the three friends decide to have extra marital affairs to spice up their lives (the Pati Patni aur woh influence). The first few attempts turn out to be damp squibs with some hilarious consequences. At this stage, Monica walks into their lives and things start getting interesting. No spoilers here… so let me stop! (Yes, the Murder and Tum situations abound)
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Performances:
Vivek Oberoi as Meet is sincere as always, though the character seems repetitive as in many other films of his. He suits the role of a mischievous fun-loving flirt, but makes one wonder if he can do any other type. (Ok, I haven’t seen Company or Dum, so I’ll give him the benefit of doubt.) He has a cute pick-up line, introducing himself as Pooja ka bhai (since Pooja is a common name).
Aftab Shivdasani as Prem gets, according to me, the maximum screen time. He seems to have improved a lot and shed some inhibitions to give a wacky performance. Could have done better, though.
Riteish (why does he have that funny spelling – wasn’t he known as Ritesh Deshmukh earlier?) as Amar, has just one expression throughout the movie. It does suit the character, but fathom him being a dentist! I would certainly have thought twice before going to him for treatment.
The wives, Tara Sharma (Geeta), Amrita Rao (Aanchal) and Genelia(Bindiya) are shown over-the-top in whatever they excel, and come across as unidimensional characters. Not much scope for performances here.
Lara Dutta as Monica looks stunning and does a competent job. Ajay Devgan as Inspector Sikander (no, I haven’t mentioned him my description of the plot) looks different from his usual intense roles and has a takiya kalam: “I hate crime and I hate criminals.”
Satish Shah as a homophobic and casanova psychoanalyst is brilliant as usual. But frankly, I don’t find those gay jokes funny any more. The sooner Bollywood gets over this Kaantaben hangover, we’ll be better off. By the way, are Amar and Prem named strategically thus so as to contrive some suggestive interaction between the two?
According to me, the best performance was from Archana Puran Singh (as Amar’s WWF mother-in-law). Despite the slapstick comedy, she is a full-time laugh riot. Sample her humour:
Riteish plots to burgle his own house to steal some money from the safe vault. APS is blissfully relaxing having applied her face pack along with cucumber slices over her eyes – her glasses having been hidden by Riteish beforehand. Sometime during mid-morning, Ritiesh disguised as a doodhwala attacks her after she opens the door for him. APS, blinded due to the absence of her glasses, is taken aback. Her reaction? Doodh dene ka yeh kaunsa tareeka hai bhai? That did it for me!!!. Of course there are other rollicking scenes of her as well.
Music:
The music by Anand Raj Anand is strictly passable. In fact, I hardly recollect any of the songs, except maybe “On the roof” and a bit of “Ek Kunwara”.
Direction:
Indra Kumar who has given us dramas and melodramas in the past (Dil, Beta, Raja, to name a few hits) moves into the comedy arena with ease. Although the film drags in parts especially in the second half, the overall scripting is fairly tight. The surprise elements and twists in the plot are handled very nicely.
Recommendation:
The film has been given an “A” certificate by the censors. No, its not for any sex or violence – there isn’t any of these. Its purely for the wacky double entendre which pervades all through the movie. A close similarity would be those Hollywood sex comedies of the 80s, minus of course the skin show. Place do not drag your dada-dadi along, or make the mistake of renting this CD on a family weekend. Its purely for the enjoyment of fun-loving and mischievous adults who can appreciate sex comedies and are able to read the smut between the lines. If this kind of humour is up your alley, then go ahead. I can guarantee you a good laugh!