Reviews

Sigh. It must be so interesting (pathetic?) to be David Dhawan who's ego is so massive, he thinks he can literally just do the same shi$ and get paid handsomely. He must have been waiting on pins and needles for his son to grow older, to prime him to become an actor and finally make a comeback remaking his entire roster of 90s movies again to cash out once more without using his brain ever again.

This is a remake no one needed. No one wanted. And no one should waste their time watching this derivative drivel. Somehow it's tackier and in much poorer taste than the original, without any of the charm, wit and performances to make up for it.

I have a penchant for the original movie. Yes it's misogynistic, reducing every female character into an air headed dancing buffoon who will blindly marry whoever. Yes, it pathetically makes fun of people with speech disorders, poor people, Asian languages, you name it. But the sparkling performances from Govinda, Sadashiv A. and the inimitable Kader Khan, the nostalgic music, the inane but hilarious premise, and witty dialogue made it a classic. I'll give David D the credit for a film I really enjoy (even though he ripped off a South Indian film!!)

Flash forward to the remake that shouldn't have been. There's nothing fresh or different aside from increasing the budget, shoot locations and wardrobe. The absolute worst thing about this movie is Varun Dhawan. It's like his father has overdirected him until he went absolutely filthy MAD. He screams, he pratfalls, he does stupid annoying voices, he dances like a monkey trying to earn a nickel. I hated every cringey second of his performance. It felt like such an insult to Govinda. It's tough because he's in literally every frame, hamming it up, and all the while, you know he realizes how awful he is, but he can't stop because daddy says so.

The new Pandit played by whoever that guy is has none of the charm and presence of the original. The mamaji character is reduced to a couple scenes as an idiot wearing overalls getting hit in the balls. Major eye roll. Paresh Rawal's character was changed the most because even DD knew no one can match up to Kader Khan. He tries but the hilarity of Hoshiyar Chand is completely lost.

Now, to the women. This was a chance to at the very least modernize the female characters, give them personalities, ambitions and minds maybe? Maybe next time when David D remakes this with his grandson. Sara Ali Khan is vapid. She's just there to prance around in expensive (and might I add tacky and odd) clothing. Her sisters character had more potential but she's hardly there.

The set pieces from the overly done homes to the weird amusement park song sequences are tacky. The story moves so fast that you feel no empathy or warmth towards any character. They bizarrely add a few new sequences that suck. The opening animation shows Coolie Raju's origin story. He was separated from his mother at a train station and became a Coolie after an animated Amitabh Bachchan adopts him?? Why?! Oh I get it, a guy like Varun who's supposedly handsome couldn't become a Coolie by choice but only by necessity. As if it's not an honest job that many people do. Also why the eff didn't the mom come back for him! He must have been doing that horrible Mithun impression so she decided to just leave him there. Lol!! A few other idiotic sequences have been added to show off Varun D's action abilities. Super boring and fast forward moments.

Overall, no. Just no.

I wasted nearly three hours trying to find something meaningful in this movie but came away with nothing! The plot is the same drivel we have come to expect. Two people fall madly in love after seeing each other once or twice. She's married, there's a war brewing, everyone seems to be connected by nonsense drama which ends with a main character dying. This was like a bad soap opera with a star cast that looked bored and as confused as us. The sets are fine but baffling. Where is this town with desert, water canals, giant palaces and lavish festivals being thrown daily? This was clearly someone's pet project and no one told him the story sucks. Most of the time someone is angry and crying but we have no idea why nor do we care. I'm glad this movie flopped big time. It's good support well crafted and earnest art, not a glorified music video being sold as a film.

TLDR: Boring, bleak film without a point. Skip it

I made the mistake of watching this on a plane. I would rather have been staring at the overhead bin! This film is so...boring. It's hard to understand what's happening because the characters won't come out and say things properly. They leave sentences half unsaid, who knows why? The main character Phillip comes off as a poorly developed, angry man without a purpose. Rachel is a mysterious presence but we never even get to the bottom of whether she killed her previous husbands or was just in bad circumstances. So then what was the point of this film?? The way Phillip falls in love with Rachel and shows his love is pathetic as well. And why did she randomly kiss him all the time if she was not into him? His strong desire to leave his entire inheritance to her before he even knows if she loves him makes NO sense.

Stupid film that need not have been made. The only good thing was in the end Rachel died. I wish Phillip died too!