More frowns for the clowns

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As an audience of Indian slapstick comedies, I have to accept that I am dumb and stupid. I am getting cranky over how I find them to be funny and how my friends hate me for that. Can you believe that I saw three comedy movies in the last three weeks but came out crying? And to top it all, each movie was seen first day first show!

And now, Double Dhamaal — which is a sequel to the 2007 film Dhamaal — created much hype as the four jokers (the lead characters) were expected to make us laugh.
But the film made me wonder if my intelligence level is that of a five-year-old. The fact that the actors not only state the obvious but also expect me to laugh at it while they do so, is the proof of my claim.
Double Dhamaal is the story of four conmen Roy (Riteish Deshmukh), Adi (Arshad Warsi), Manav (Javed Jaffrey) and Boman (Ashish Choudhary). They have borrowed money from underworld don Bata Bhai (Satish Kaushik), who’s looking for a way out of the crime world. Kabir (Sanjay Dutt), a former police officer, wants to be the world’s greatest thug. He cheats the four jokers, robs them of `250 crores and goes to Macau.
Now the jokers are on the run for their lives after being cheated by Kabir. Their only aim in life is to take the money back from Kabir and company (Mallika Sherawat as Kamini and Kangna Ranaut as Kia). They flee to Macau, where they see Kabir, who owns a casino. The rest of the film is how the jokers take their revenge.

Sanjay, Kangna and Mallika all have done a decent job, but they don’t play a very active role in creating laughs unlike the four jokers. However, Mallika uses her sex appeal to create some fun moments. But Roy, Adi, Manav and Boman are the real stars of the film.
Riteish Deshmukh is funny. Who said he needs the help of some “funny lines” to make the audience laugh? The man himself is a joke! From top to bottom, from his shoes to his clothes, his long hair to the way he puts his hand on his cheek and says “Aiiii!” He loves furry coats, shows plenty of cleavage, mimics some of the greatest actors in Bollywood and feels great about it. Well, Riteish surely knows mimicry, but has he ever thought of doing something original?
Javed Jaffery plays a dumb 40-year-old kid, who talks with a lisp, is shy of hugging Mallika but sharp enough to plan a con. He is also the butt of most of the jokes. And judging by the standards set by most of the cast, Arshad Warsi comes out as the only mismatch with both the characters he plays — of Adi and Ghanta Singh. He doesn’t fit in the group of the dumb jokers. His portrayal of the wise sardar, Ghanta Singh, gave me some hope that maybe I’m not that stupid.
Ashish’s character as Boman is distasteful. He walks in a short tight dress showing plenty of cleavage and feels the audience will find it funny. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. I thought the Rose Mary Marlowe days (the character Sharman Joshi plays in 2001 comedy Style) were over. But after seeing Double Dhamaal I guess the pathetic attempt is back.
There are many sequences where the film does not make any sense. But since Double Dhamaal is a slapstick comedy let’s just laugh at it. In the film anything is possible. Picture this: A dead man can again die thrice, make funny noises. More: people after being hit by bullets jump into water without trying to save themselves, but after drowning they come back to say their last words, and then they drown again. It’s absurd. Hilarious. Isn’t it?