Review: 'Golmaal 3' lives up to the brand, manages to tickle your funny bone

Film: Golmaal 3

Director: Rohit Shetty

Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi and others

Rating: ***

 

Rohit Shetty has got it just right. At a time when comedy is all about double meaning entendres coupled with over-the-top performances (read: all Akshay Kumar films lately), Shetty manages to walk the thin line between the outrageous and the witty. Aided with an able team of writers, Shetty once again brings you a comedy that makes you laugh without making you cringe. 

 

Golmaal 3 is Bollywood’s first follow-up to a sequel. With the third parts of Munnabhai and Dhoom being announced but not having got into production yet, the film’s makers get there first and face the tough task of living up to not one but two predecessors.

 

While it may not have surpassed the earlier sequel – the first Golmaal was the weakest – Golmaal 3 does manage to tickle your funny bone thanks to some great one liners and an interesting bunch of characters.

 

As in the first two films, which derived inspiration from a Malayalam film and the Hindi film Aaj Ki Taaza Khabar respectively, the third Golmaal borrows its plot from the Basu Chatterjee film, Khatta Meetha.

 

Madhav (Warsi), Laxman (Khemu) and Lucky (Tushhar) are school bus driver Pritam a.k.a Pappu’s good-for-nothing sons who make a living by doing jholjhaal and golmaal. Similarly, Gopal (Devgn) and Laxman (Talpade) are sons of Geeta and along with their friend Daboo (Kareena) are trying to make a quick buck by starting small time businesses with funding from Vasooli bhai.

 

The two sets of siblings end up starting similar businesses in competition – first a water sport company and then a firecracker store – leading to enmity between the two groups. Pritam (Mithun) decides to end the was between the two parties and lands up at Geeta's house, only to find out that Geeta is actually the Guddi he was in love with his during his young disco dancing days.

 

In a hilarious flashback sequence, you see Mithun donning a wig and getting into his famous golden attire one more time as he gyrates to ‘I am a disco dancer’ as an enchanted Guddi eggs him on. But when Guddi’s rich father (Prem Chopra, in a brilliant cameo) finds out about the affair, he wants Pappu to first earn enough money to be able to give Guddi the ‘good life’.

 

A war of words follow – ‘Jinke ghar sheeshe ke hote hai, woh basement main kapde badla karte hai’ – even as Shambhu kaka stands in the background, worried for chhoti bitiya Guddi. Now years later, Guddi and Pappu decide to get married, but can the five warring brothers live together in the same house?

 

Unlike the first two installments, Golmaal 3 has more or less a linear plot with no mixed identities or unwanted confusion leading to pandemonium. While that may actually be a welcome change, the humour has to then rely on individual situations and dialogues mainly, and while the film scores on both counts you wish the story was not as simple.

 

Thankfully, dialogue writers Farhad-Sajid come up with great lines once again (after last year’s All The Best) and although the plot never really moves at a brisk pace, the goings-on keep you entertained. The film has enough characters, each with their idiosyncrasies, and aided with some witty writing, they keep you guffawing.

 

The new character introduced, (Kunal Khemu as the second Laxman is a welcome addition) keeps spouting muhavras in the unlikeliest of situations, while the other Laxman stammers. Lucky’s mute act is hardly funny anymore and Tusshar thankfully doesn’t get too do much this time round.

 

On the other hand, Warsi as Madhav is great with his timing as usual. Ajay’s Gopal is a hotheaded guy who loses it when someone shows him the finger, literally. Mukesh Tiwari is back as Vasooli bhai and is lovely in his interactions with the cop played by Murali Sharma.

 

Johnny Lever as Pappi bhai, who has short term memory, seems to be in top form in recent Rohit Shetty films after a string of duds. Last year, he made a sort of comeback as the mute don in All The Best. As his sidekick, Vrajesh Hirjee doesn’t have much to do, while Sanjay Mishra is funny as the goon who misspells (‘HIV – Haar’ he says at one point, ‘JFK – Jail’ he says at another).

 

The film’s two best performances, though, come from the original mover and shaker, Mithunda, and Kareena Kapoor as the tomboyish Daboo. Mithun endears you with his honest performance, showing a flair for comedy forgotten since his Krishna Iyer MA days from Agneepath.  

 

Kapoor, on the other hand, surprises you with her natural flair for comedy (wasn’t so apparent in the Golmaal Returns) and even with seven-eight other actors in the frame, manages to grab attention.

 

In the end, Golmaal 3 lives up to its brand and gives you enough laughs for an enjoyable festive weekend. The second half is slightly weaker than the first, but the film manages to leave you with a smile in the end. Recommended.