REVIEW: HUNGAMA 2

Producer- Ratan Jain and Ganesh Jain

Director- Priyadarshan

Star Cast- Ashutosh Rana, Meezaan Jaffery, Shilpa Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Manoj Joshi, Pranitha Subhash, Tiku Talsania, Johny Lever and Akshaye Khanna

Director: Priyadarshan

Genre- Comedy

Rating- **

OTT Platform: Hotstar

A Damp Squib!

Jyothi Venkatesh

This atrocity is loosely based on Priydarshan’s own earlier Malayalam film Minnaram starring Priyan’s favorite Mohanlal which had been released way back in 1994.

If Priyadrshan thinks that he can do a cut and paste of his own film and pass on to the audiences to today who are very receptive to only progressive plots, and they will accept it without questioning him, he is sadly mistaken.

In one line, the plot revolves around how Tanushri Dutta look alike Vaani (Pranitha Subhash), drops one fine morning with a three year old kid at Akash’s (Meezaan Jaffery) house, claiming that it is a kid with him out of wedlock.

Akash declines to recognize her but then confesses to having an affair with her during his college days.

Akash’s father Kapoor (Ashutoh Rana) decides to get to the bottom of the matter and involves Anjali (Shilpa Shetty) who he considers to be his daughter.

However, Anjali’s suspicious husband Radhe (Paresh Rawal) overhears the conversation between Anjali and Akash and starts believing that they are having an affair and thus a comedy of errors ensues.

With an almost full-fledged role right from the beginning till the last frame, it is Ashutsh Rana who walks away with all the accolades as the father of the protagonist in the film, in which even producer Ratan Jain makes an appearance a la Hitchcock.

It is sheer pity that Shilpa makes her return to acting after a period of eleven ears with this film where there is hardly any scope for here to show her potential as an actress, but she emerges as the scene stealer with her chutzpah and oomph in the Churake Dil Mera redux, even though she has been pitted as Paresh Rawal’s childless wife.

Paresh adds to the zany content of the film as the old husband who suspects that his wife is ogled at by strangers

While Tiku Talsania has been wasted as the servant of the bungalow, Johny Lever manages to impress you in his special appearance, though he is not really at his best in a bland enterprise like this one.

Meezan reminds you of Ranbir Kapoor in some scenes and has nothing much to do by way of his screen presence while you feel pity for Pranita Subhash who is making her debut with a film like this where she has to contend with at least half a dozen other actors, including Akshaye Khanna who puts in a surprise appearance.

(Sorry for being a spoiler and letting this out to you right now) Manoj Joshi is good as usual but something is amiss in this formula ridden film.

While Rajpal Yadav has been wasted in a role which does not merit his presence, yesteryear hero Raman Trikha makes his comeback in a role which is as big as that of an extra.

On the whole, the film drags on and on without a plausible plot and to add to it you have predictable one liners which make you squirm on your seat. It is nothing but a damp squib, which one did not expect at all!