Dhamaal

I think the creativity in me, if there was any, is slowly dying. I just can’t seem to think of anything to write about. The moment a small idea strikes my tiny brain, some big wave crashes it off dismissing it as something non-essential.

Ah! Well just because it pains me to see the blog I so lovingly nourished until now empty for more than a fortnight – I thought I would write about the nice movie that we saw over the weekend – Dhamaal.

I cannot recall the last time we saw a hindi movie and truly enjoyed it. I stopped reading reviews of movies on Rediff – because almost every movie that is being churned out these days seems to be getting only a 1 star or max 2 stars. I could not bring myself to see ‘Chak De’ for the fright of having to bear him for 2 and half hours; though colleagues gave excellent reviews of the movie. This one, we bought (yes – these days the concept of renting seems to be lost in our grocery store – because there was only a 50 cent difference in renting and buying the n number of DVD copies that he made), because more than one person had vouched for its ability to make you laugh so hard that your stomach ached.

Well, my stomach did not ache – but I did laugh a lot while watching the movie. And as usual, no credit for originality here – the movie is a mish-mash copy of two very funny English movies – ‘It’s a Mad Mad World’ and ‘Rat Race’ – but one definitely has to give it to the 4 stars for bringing the best out of a copy. Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Javed Jaffrey and Ashish Chowdary are brilliant comedians. Not many praises for the last one – but he tags on well in the group. I have grown to love Ritesh’s comedy – each and every movie I have seen of his – he has given a superb performance (no matter what the state of the rest of the movie is). Arshad – his award for the Munnabahi series speaks for himself. His timing and dialogue delivery are too good. Javed Jaffrey is a brilliant star who has not been given enough recognition I feel. As the bhondu, always-speaking-the-truth, innocent younger brother to Arshad – he gives a wonderful performance. It is his simple performance that steals your heart. No ‘acting’ this guy does. You just feel this is what he is.

Sanjay Dutt provides the ‘brawn’ and star power to the movie. Asrani is a bit loud and could have done better than just slapping and yelling.

Vijay Raaz (well known as PK Dubey) comes in for just a small scene – but steals the show – undoubtedly. His dialogues and the way he has rendered them is hilarious!

There are very few moments in the movie where you are yawning or feeling – what the hell am I watching this movie for – which according to me is one of the best credits that can be given to a movie being screened these days.

A very nice timepass movie!