I am one of the very few who have no qualms in publicly admitting that I enjoy Sajid Khan’s films. And yes, I enjoyed Himmatwala too. It promised 80s style entertainment, over the top moments and a mindless scene with tiger and that’s what it delivered. Unfortunately, Humshakals is an exception. The promos and premise promised loads of laughter and a maddening ride. However, Humshakals as a whole is anything but funny. And that’s a shocker, considering that it had all the ingredients of a laughathon.

The story of the movie: Ashok (Saif Ali Khan) is the owner of Singhania group of companies and his trusted aide is his childhood friend Kumar (Riteish Deshmukh). Ashok’s Mamaji, Kunwar Amarnath Singh (Ram Kapoor) plans to oust Ashok and become the owner of the Singhania group of companies, by hook or by cook. He puts his evil into motion, proves that Ashok and Kumar are mentally ill and sends them to a mental institution. Incidentally, Ashok and Kumar’s humshakals also reside in the same asylum. A crazy ride begins as the lookalikes add to the confusion. To add to it, Mamaji’s lookalike, Johnny, too is found in the asylum! And that’s not all, Ashok, Kumar and Mamaji’s second humshakals make an entry into the narrative as well!

Sajid’s second film Housefull (2010) too had a shaky start but it gets on track in no time and emerged as one of the best entertainers of the year. Humshakals too doesn’t have a great beginning. One hopes that soon, the film will turn into a laugh-a-minute riot. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happen. There are moments in the film that raise laughs but they are few and far between. But otherwise, it’s one bland ride. The culprits are the script and dialogues. Story is actually interesting and most importantly, unpredictable. And that’s what keeps the viewers engaged from start to finish as nobody knows what’s going to happen next. But the dialogues fail to raise laughs. In fact, one wonders what’s the relevance of the entire ‘hum pagal nahi, hamara dimaag kharab hai’ part? Is it supposed to be even remotely funny? And the loopholes in the film are too grand to be ignored. Why are the mentally unstable Ashok and Kumar housed in Ward B (which is pagalon ka jail) when they are harmless? Shivani (Esha Gupta) forgets that she’s a doctor, teams up with our heroes and even lands up with them in Mauritius! Moreover, the climax falls flat completely. It’s nothing new and the presence of Prince Charles gives one a deja vu of Housefull’s finale.



Performances too aren’t up to the mark. Saif Ali Khan has an impeccable comic timing but he appears out of place in Humshakals. His act of a mentally unstable and homosexual fails to entertain or tickle the funny bone. It’s only when he’s playing the real Ashok that he looks in control. Riteish Deshmukh does add to the fun but he’s done much better in this league in the past. It’s Ram Kapoor who therefore entertains the most out of the three. He’s great as the evil mama and is adorable as the mentally unstable Johnny. His third avatar hardly gets any scope.

Tamannaah Bhatia (Shanaya) looks stunning as always and plays her part well. Same goes for Esha Gupta. Bipasha Basu (Mishti) has the least amount of screen time amongst the ladies and it’s no surprise that she has refused to promote the film. Satish Shah (as Y M Raj) tries very hard to be funny but disappoints. Chunky Pandey (Karan T Bijlani) too fails to evoke laughter. Darshan Jariwala acts sincerely. Akash Khurana (Mr Singhania) is decent. Nawab Shah (Dr Khan) plays a role very similar to the one he essayed in Don 2.

Himesh Reshammiya’s music fails to entice. Caller Tune is catchy followed by Piya Ke Bazaar Mein. Rests of the songs are totally forgettable. Sandeep Shirodkar’s background score is much better and special mention should be made of ‘Cocaine ke parathe’ and ‘Vodka ke parathe’ track. It’s hilarious! Ravi Yadav’s cinematography is eye-catching. Sets and production design are grand. Sajid Khan’s story is entertaining and could have made for a great film. But dialogues (Sajid Khan, Adhir Bhat) fail to do justice. A film of this scale and league required the services of a Sajid-Farhad or a Milap Zaveri. Screenplay (Sajid Khan, Robin Bhatt, Akarsh Khurana) too falls flat and it was at its worst in the finale. Couldn’t they think of something better since viewers have seen a climax of this sort countless number of times? And when dialogues and screenplay aren’t upto the mark, there’s little that Sajid Khan the director could do. Himmatwala dealt a huge blow to his career but Humshakals could have got him back to his original position. But with Humshakals turning out to be bad film, one wonders what lies in store for Mr Khan.

On the whole, Humshakals is equipped with a great storyline. But the dialogues and screenplay fail completely. The result: Humshakals aspires to be a comic caper but it is anything but funny. Saif Ali Khan looks completely out of place. Songs aren’t exciting and climax is one of the worst ever. What makes the film fairly bearable is the unpredictable storyline as one doesn’t know what’s going to happen next, and performances by Ram Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh. At the box office, Humshakals will have a tough time and can prove to be a bigger disappointment than Himmatwala.

My rating-** out of 5!

WILL HUMSHAKALS BRING BACK SAJID KHAN’S LOST PRESTIGE?

Sajid Khan was considered as one of the sought-after filmmakers after he delivered three back to back hits – Heyy Babyy, Housefull and Housefull 2. But all this changed after his fourth film, Himmatwala, flopped miserably. What made matters worse is that Sajid appeared overconfident and arrogant and was sure that Himmatwala would prove to be one of the biggest hits of 2013. Needless to say, his critics had a field day in ‘celebrating’ Himmatwala’s failure and in criticizing Sajid’s loudmouthedness. Fortunately, Sajid didn’t attempt to hit back at these people and went completely underground. He channelized the energy into scripting his fifth film, Humshakals, that is all set to hit theatres tomorrow.

While Heyy Babyy, Housefull and Housefull 2 were urban comic capers, Himmatwala had a rural setting and concentrated more on drama and action than Sajid’s forte – comedy. With Humshakals, Sajid gets back to making a laugh riot. The setting is unheard of: triple role of three heroes! And with Sajid at the helm of affairs, one can imagine that the madness and laughter quotient will be at an all-time high! The male actors – Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh and Ram Kapoor – appear confident and ‘mad enough’ to pull of such a role. Esha Gupta, Tamannaah Bhatia and Bipasha Basu are the female leads while Satish Shah, Chunky Pandey, Darshan Jariwala and Suresh Menon complete the rest of the cast. Himesh Reshammiya has provided the music for the first time in a Sajid Khan film.

While the film looks entertaining, a section of audience who abhors Sajid Khan cinema will be staying miles away from the film. If response is positive, some of them will see the film but if it’s not, then it can prove detrimental to the film’s success. Except Caller Tune, the other songs haven’t worked big time. Also, the Himmatwala debacle is fresh in everyone’ minds. Not to forget, the cost of the film is high and the film needs to do pretty good business at the box office to break even.

As of now, an average-to-good opening is expected tomorrow and hopefully, the film will grow on Saturday and Sunday. I respect Sajid’s filmmaking abilities and here’s hoping Humshakals brings out the best from this filmmaker!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HUMSHAKALS AND WHY? DO LET ME KNOW!