A loose copy of the Hollywood movie Its a Mad, Mad, World, this senseless comedy is a treat to watch. The gist of the story is:Four unemployed amateur con-men (Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Aashish Choudhary, and Javed Jaffrey) race against each other, and a zealous policeman (Sanjay Dutt), on a treasure-hunt in Goa.Not much of a gripper, right? So what makes this movie better than all the comedies released so far this year?
It’s the zany one-liners, the almost-perfect comic timing, good acting, good direction, great cinematography, excellent soundtrack, and hilarious background music, all put together. We get to see Javed Jaffrey playing a lovable character even more wacked-out than the desi cowboy in Salaam Namaste. Riteish’s character reminds us somewhat of the character he played in Bluffmaster.
The chase runs parallel, with each character having to overcome his own separate obstacles. Replete with comic antics, excellent anecdotes and a light touch on friendship, brotherly love, and affection between father and son, the plot moves quickly.
Except for a few semi-item numbers (which seem to be the necessity of the day), there is no heroine, and there are no song-and-dance routines. Yet, this movie is definitely a success. Indra Kumar(director) finds a way to weave different characters very aptly into the plot.
The supporting cast, i.e. Prem Chopra, Paritosh Painter, Balwinder Suri, Bunty Rathore, Vijay Raaz (Spiritually inclined Air Traffic Controller), Manoj Pahwa(drunk pilot) and Sanjay Mishra(dacoit) take the film to another level.
Other Bollywood directors should wake up, take lessons from this movie, and give Mallika (ting-a-ling)Sherawat and Rakhi (ding-a-ling) Sawant a job more productive than shaking their things on-screen.
For most part, Dhamaal is an out-and-out comedy, but it wraps up with an emotional ending, which is a little over-done.
The plot editor(Sanjay Shankla) could have made this movie a bit more tightly-packed, and a wee bit faster, but despite it’s minor flaws, this movie is definitely worth a dekko.