Housefull - Movie Review
Published: February 4, 2011
Starring Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ritesh Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Arjun Rampal, Boman Irani, Jiah Khan, Malaika Arora
It's hard to take slapstick as a genre seriously—it is, after all, purposely ridiculous. But going for the easy laugh is far from easy, and doing it well is certainly an art form—one that stretches from Shakespeare to the Three Stooges to the Farrelly Brothers. Actor Akshay Kumar is a modern-day Indian practitioner of it and a reminder of just how funny oft-dismissed low-brow comedy can be. Kumar's Housefull is a fine example of that staple of Bollywood, the multi-star entertainer—in this case, a comedy of errors.
Aarush (Kumar) is so cursed with bad luck that his girlfriend, Puja (Malaika Arora), turns down his marriage proposal on her brother's insistence. The crushed Aarush quits his job in Macau and returns to London to visit his only friend, Bob (Ritesh Deshmukh). Bob and his wife, Hetal (Lara Dutta), are randy not-so-newlyweds who don't appreciate their uninvited house guest. But they have a soft spot for the hapless Aarush and they manage to unload him soon enough anyway by arranging his marriage to a wealthy casino owner's daughter, Devika (Jiah Khan). Devika dumps him on their honeymoon in Italy, revealing that she had a boyfriend all along and only married Aarush to access her conditional trust fund. Aarush tries to drown himself in the Mediterranean, but is rescued by Sandy (Deepika Padukone), and the two quickly fall in love. The worried Bob and Hetal join the new couple in Italy to sort out what happened, and the foursome return to London together, where Hetal must convince her estranged father, Batuk (Boman Irani), who is visiting from India, that her blackjack-dealer husband is really a millionaire businessman, and Sandy must convince her brother, Indian military intelligence agent Major Krishna Rao (Arjun Rampal), that her unemployed, soon-to-be-divorced boyfriend is also rich and respectable. Their ruse becomes increasingly complicated as the misunderstandings and coincidences mount and they dig themselves a deeper and deeper hole of lies.
Kumar's match-up with Padukone lacks the magic he shares with his frequent comedy co-star Katrina Kaif in such films as Namastey London (2007), Welcome (2007), and Singh is Kinng (2008). His pairing with Padukone will not be repeated in the sequel, Housefull 2, said to be in the works, in which Kumar will reportedly star opposite actress Asin. Rampal will not be reprising his role either. He plays one heck of a haughty bad guy here—see also his villainous roles in Om Shanti Om (2007), Raajneeti (2010), and the upcoming Ra.One—good as he is at it, he might be worrying about typecasting.
Housefull is rated Worth Watching.
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