GOLMAAL RETURNS
A Whacky Winner
by Vishal Verma
Banner: Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd
Genre: Comedy
Target Audience: General
Director: Rohit Shetty
Star Cast: Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade, Tusshar Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Anjana Sukhani, Amrita Arora, Celina Jaitley, Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar, Murli Sharma,Vrajesh Hirjee, Rakhi Vijan, Sharat Saxena & Mukesh Tiwari.
D.O.P: Natrajan Subramanium
Screenplay : Yunus Sajawal
Dialogues: Farhad Sajid
Music: Pritam
Media Relations: Parag Desai (Universal Communications)
Technical Analysis
Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar’, after spoiling the Sunday earlier this year helmer Rohit Shetty makes sure that this Diwali cracker makes profitable sound at the B.O.
Agreed, Comedy is no longer the flavor of the season, in fact this year’s true mega hits at the B. O. had been Jannat (a love story with the backdrop of gambling), Jane Tu Ya Janne Na – a breezy fresh love story, and ‘Welcome to Sajjanpur’ (Big daddy of realistic cinema Shyam Benegal’s statistical take on a village life that had commercial values). And one run away hit ‘Phoonk (an aggressively promoted horror).
So does Rohit’s and Astavinayak’s second episode of ‘Golmaal’, does the click trick at the B.O.
The answer is ‘Yes’.
Agreed, in terms of content, its inspired form director Rajendra Bhatia’s ‘Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar’ starring Kiran Kumar, which fetched the filmfare for the best comedian to Asrani in the year 1974.
And the writer Yunus Sajawal with his helmer Rohit doesen,t try many variations and innovations to upgrade it further. But they have followed the same mantra that previously digged gold at the B.O. and had given a warm welcome to every ‘Partner’, & ‘Singh’ at the B.O. Leave your brains at home, don’t look for logic and Turn a blind eye to the cinematic liberties. & last but not the least, aggressively promote your film.
Few would have imagined Rajendra’s Bhatia’s ‘Aaj ki Taaza Khabar’ as an inspiration for this comedy. Rohit transplants Champak Bhomia as Anthony Gonsalves into a bollywood comedy that plays with the dash of soap opera dig for laughs.
This may be a juvenile stuff for some who might obviously consider it to be an awful mess for their love of realistic cinema.
But if you’re willing to cut the film some slack, then it does generate a few laughs, some of them quite hearty. It takes a certain chutzpah to wade into the no brainer thingie and make it a convincing time pass for the festive season and Rohit with his entire enterprise does a fair job.
The best gag for me was the sequence between Shreyas and Tusshar, when Shreyas goes to meet Kareena and Tusshar who is dumb tries all the tricks to stop him from entering the house. Its howlarious.
The dialogues are funny and some are aimed at the front benchers. Musically, 'Tha Karke' is peppy and is the best track though its out of place in the film. 'Meow' comes during the end credits.
‘Golmaal Returns’ is a revelation that Tusshar Kapoor is a gifted talent who needs to get the right helmer to give him proper exposure.
Shreyas Talpade shows his caliber and his comic timing is remarkable. Both, in fact, provide the most laughs to the viewer.
Ajay Devgan is amiable.
Kareena does the suspicious wife with the required zest and gusto. Celina gives a very pleasant performance.
Arshad Warsi gets less scope, Amrita Arora is wasted and so is Anjana Sukhani. Vrajesh Hirjee only repeats himself.
Sharat Saxena, Rakhi Vijan, Sanjay Mishra, Murli Sharma, Mukesh Tiwari and Ashwini Kalsekar pass the muster.
The Story
Gopal (Ajay Devgan), who lives with his wife Ekta (Kareena Kapoor), sister Esha (Amrita Arora) and brother-in-law Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor), gets stuck in a yacht after saving an attractive woman Meera (Celina Jaitly)from some goons. Both end up spending the night on the yacht and when he comes home the next day, his painfully suspicious wife, who is also a hardcore fan of the saas-bahu serials, smell fish.
Gopal knows it's going to be hard to quell her suspicion, so he concocts a cock-and-bull story about having stayed the night with a fictitious friend called Anthony Gonsalves. Ekta refuses to buy his yarn and writes to Anthony [on a fictitious address given to her by Gopal], asking him to visit her.
Gopal convinces his junior at work, Laxman (Shreyas Talpade), to pretend to be Anthony. Everything goes according to plan till the real Anthony turns up.
If that isn't complication enough for Gopal, a dead body is discovered at the location where he had saved Meera. The Investigating Officer, Madhav (Arshad Warsi), who is Esha's boyfriend and also who cannot stand the sight of Gopal, learns that the latter had been missing from home that eventful night and begins checking on him.
Promotion
Well promoted, the promoters and makers have kept the buzz alive. Media awareness by Universal Communications had helped the cause of the producers.
Business Analysis
Diwali period, spending mood, buzz, enthusiasm, and fun moments had given the movie a good opening overall which is around 80%.
‘Golmaal Returns’ is likely to make everybody happy.
Ajay Devgan can relax and have a safe and lightening diwali cause this is a winner.
Shreyas Tapade couldn’t have asked for a better gift after ‘ Welcome to Sajjanpur’.
Tushaar again scores as an actor