PHIR HERA PHERI

At one point our dear Baboo Bhaiya lets out a desperate scream- Itni hera pheri!

Exactly my sentiments at about the same time. And as the movie proceeded to a climax which involved clowns, a gorilla suit rented from maganlal dresswallah, a CGI trapeze act and the cast having an intense desire to rip the back of each others shirts, (Thought which crossed my mind:- would it have been funny if they had ripped pants instead) that particular sentiment intensified coupled with a dire longing the movie would come to it's inevitable end. Inevitable because I already knew what that ending was going to be. Anyone who has watched a brilliant Brit gangster movie named 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' would.

The first of Bollywood's much touted sequel brigand rolled out and if it bodes in anyway for what is to follow the answer may pretty much be summed up in the conotation- nausea.

And it is only Director/Writer/I-also-cameo-like-Hitchcock Neeraj Vora to be blamed. 'Hera Pheri' itself was a remake of Priyadarshan's classic-cult Malayalam hit 'Ramji rao speaking' and took the safe route by copying it down albiet with a lil more flourish and nonsensical songs. 'Ramji Rao Speaking' also spawned a sequel- 'Manaar Mathai Speaking' (which could be analogically translated as 'baburao speaking!') which while not scaling the comic crescendo the original attained still manages to pack in three hours worth of solid laughs and great entertainment. All Mr. Vora could have done was delivered up a remake of 'Manaar Mathai' but instead he completely ignores it and any attempt at kind of plot and rather offers to revel in stale extentions and stupid reprisals of the 'Hera Pheri' gags- yes, baburao loses his dhoti, yes, Shyam hears 'Golmal hai', yes, people get hit with things not meant for them- and then when he runs out of material opts for plagarising Guy Ritchie's little gangter gem.

What little humor the movie evokes is kudos for the cast. And what a dream comic cast! There's the original trio who return (Paresh,Akshay, Suniel), Rajpal Yadav (somebody sedate him!), Johny Lever, Suresh Menon, Sharat Saxena (ever so superb in Love Ke liye Kuch Bhi karega), Ravi Kisan (Bhojpuri superstar), Sunil Pal, that crazyDilip Kumar dupe who comes on the Sajid Khan show and that guy who does the hilarious 'Jaiii' routine on the Great Indian Comedy Show. Of course, all that the last three get to do is to look on, make faces and get beaten up. The ladies have nothing to do but pout, look helpless and run.

The lead trio have thier good moments. The camaraderie and ease make you smile, chuckle and occasionaly laugh. And it is only when Vora puts them to sheer ridiculousness (like screwing up thier face and acting like monkeys!!!) that they begin to ham awkwardly.

So much for all the promise of that excellent promo music video of 'Jumme Raat'. Maybe Neeraj Vora should get his basics right.

Start with:-


 * 1) 1. Man in Gorilla Suit- Not funny