‘Golmaal Returns’ comes at a time when people are in a mood to laugh off their worries, so this, and the memory of the madly funny ‘Golmaal’, will probably work in the favour of this Rohit Shetty sequel.
Review by Deepa Gahlot
As far as comedies go, it’s passable, taking its plot from the 1973 film ‘Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar’, and just adding some more characters and a whole lot of Bollywood in-jokes—’Saawariya’ comes in for particularly wicked battering.
Ajay Devgan is a Goa-based fishery manager called Gopal Kumar Santoshi, whose TV-addicted wife Ekta (Kareena Kapoor) is of a suspicious nature. Living with them are her mute brother Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor) and his bimbo sister Esha (Amrita Arora).
One night, Gopal saves Meera (Celina Jaitley) from molesters and since their cars break down, they are forced to take shelter in a friend’s yacht. Here is one of the film’s really funny scenes—every TV channel the harried Gopal switches to, has sexy songs or scenes on it, making him feel really uncomfortable.
The next morning, unable to tell his wife the truth, he invents a friend called Anthony Gonsalves and persuades a job seeker Laxman (Shreyas Talpade) to play Anthony. The real Anthony (Vrajesh Hirjee) also turns up and to add to the confusion, a man Gopal had threatened at work turns up dead the same night that Gopal was missing, that makes him a suspect.
Esha’s boyfriend is a cop (Arshad Warsi) called Madhav Ghai (there we go again!), who is rather too eager to nail Gopal. Then there’s Laxman’s girlfriend Meera and the real Anthony’s wife (Rakhi Vijan) adding to the dizzy merry-go-round of misunderstanding.
The situation is crazy enough as it is, but to milk more humour out of it, Shetty puts in too many gay jokes, and plenty of guys being hit on the crotch. And the mute Lucky is a stand-up comic by himself, what with his goofy expressions and the weird sounds he emits— if one can forget political correctness for a while, he gets all the laughs.
Tusshar and Shreyas Talpade’s loony energy keeps the film afloat for most part, filling in for all the times when the script flags. Arshad Warsi is curiously subdued—maybe because his role isn’t much. Ajay Devgan has done better work before and Kareena Kapoor is wasted – but she makes good eye candy with her trendy wardrobe (with mangalsutra hanging out, like that of the women in her favourite TV soaps).
Surprisingly the music isn’t hummable—though a couple of songs are extravagantly picturised. People who don’t expect much more from ‘Golmaal Returns’ than some chuckles, might just be satisfied with what they get; but if anyone goes expecting a comic masterpiece they are likely to be let down.
Source: India Syndicate
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