John Abraham, Arshad Warsi and Pulkit Samrat bring on the buffoonery.
When you go in for what has been touted as mindless comedy and were enjoying it too, mind you, only to be hit by a dose of patriotic speech towards the end, you are flummoxed. Wait, didn’t you pay money to watch an Anees Bazmee movie?
Pagalpanti stars John Abraham (Raj Kishore), Arshad Warsi (Junky) and Pulkit Samrat (Chandu) as three out-of-luck youngsters who will do anything to come by a bit of cash.
Raj Kishore, on top, has been hit by a spat of bad luck which rubs off on everyone he comes in contact with. So when Chandu and Junky’s business venture literally goes up in flames when they join hands with Raj, the trio decide to stick together till they can recover the money.
When they are recruited by two London dons Raj (Saurabh Shukla at his comic best) and his brother-in-law Wifi (a dapper Anil Kapoor) the bumbling trio manage to do everything in their capacity to bring further losses to their bosses.
Ileana D’Cruz (Sanjana) and Kriti Kharbanda (Janvi) play Raj Kishore and Chandu’s love interests and do a fairly decent job though all they are called upon to do is screech hysterically and look pretty. Urvashi Rautela who turns up as a ‘ghost’ towards the end of the movie also follows the script to the t – which means look gorgeous and yes, she dances like a dream!
There are lots of physical humour and slapstick to make you laugh out. Though admittedly the laughs are a big slow in coming. But like the makers and the lead cast had repeatedly said, if you just go to watch the movie as a mindless comedy, you are bound to enjoy it.
It is when Bazmee tries to wear his patriotism on his sleeve through the introduction of the character called Nirav Modi and makes Raj Kishore mouth a “heart-felt’ speech about how people like Modi have looted India and needs to be held accountable for their action that the comedy loses track. But thankfully that is just a minor blip, and the movie gets back to buffoonery mode.
You can’t help feeling that the money spent on the action shots and the London setting of the film could have been put to better use.
But if you are a fan of Anees Bazmee’s brand of comedy you will no doubt have a riot at the theatres. True to what the makers have claimed Pagalpanti is a movie that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Just don’t expect the laughs to last long.
