Movie Review: Golmaal 3: Overcooked, raw, nonsense - some great laughs though...



Not thrice as fun, not bad either...

The Golmaal Series has always worked for its skit-like sequences, the storyline is a mere prop for the proceedings. Director Rohit Shetty has the undeniable thing for pulling out genuine moments of laughter and Hindi film spoof pieces.

The third film of the series doesn't disappoint.

It starts with a bang with a war of words between the eight (more than ample) main characters, but paling in terms of coherent story-telling, needless plot threads, tepid, unconnected fight and action sequences (finger-bending crap), length, and the tired, repeated, mercilessly extended Johnny Lever act.

Nonsensical, asinine, cluttered, bumpy are some of the words that describe the movie, would recommend it for the genuine moments of laughter it raises in the first half, and some in the second half. The cast and the dialogue delivery adds punch to the scenario.

Arshad Warsi is a live cracker, he seems to have enjoyed this the most; Ajay Devgan is good - a gem of a actor wasted with limited scope; Tushar Kapoor dumb act is still endearing; Kunal Khemu makes for freshness, making most of the opportunity; Shreyas Talpade, the amazing talent that he is, is again not given his due.

Mithun Chakraborty is the show-stealer, effortlessly gliding into his badly sketched role with charm and understated lines. Ratna Pathak Shah is wasted, while Kareena Kapoor's tomboy act is a gap-filler than a solid cameo it could have been. There, that is just the main cast.

Considering the sheer talent and promise Rohit Shetty continues to display, and despite the original, not-so-run-of-the-mill stuff, the film is a disappointment for the classic movie experience it could have been. So good, yet so, so, so many 'bads'. Still, worth a watch, cut the stunt mania and add more flesh to story, we say.

Real Fun

Mithunda reprising one of the over-the-top roles of his 80's potboilers and getting to deliver one the film's best spoof lines...translated - "Thee, whose houses are made of glass, change your clothes in the basement."                                   

Movie Review: ISHQIYA: Two crooks, one love and adventure...

Nothing is as it seems somewhere in rural North India as two thieves (uncle-nephew) on the run from their former boss (also the brother-in-law of the uncle) seek refuge at the village of a former jail mate. To make matters worse, not only is the man dead, his voluptuous widow attracts both men into her own designs. The older man is smitten enough to dye his hair and beard with eyeliner, while the nephew is determined to bed the woman. Meanwhile there are rumblings of murky gun dealings in the nearby villages....

Told with comic exuberance, smothering village dialect and shimmering with delight and mystery of its three main protagonists, Ishqiya takes you on an enjoyable adventure of flesh, greed and power and pleasantly surprises you with a mild twist as it wraps up. Though loopholes exist, they are not enough to tarnish a wonderful film, if not for a family audience, but certainly for lovers of gritty, crooked and humourous cinema. Go for it.

Shining bright

Arshad Warsi delivers a dazzling performance just when we thought we had lost the actor in him, Naseeruddin Shah lets go as the charming, ageing lovelorn thief and Vidya Balan is a revelation in her role as the quiet scheming widow. The Vishal Bharadwaj-Gulzar team up again to create songs that add much needed colour and softness to the movie.