If only Golmaal had stayed away

Golmaal Returns
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade
Director: Rohit Shetty
Rating: **

Puerile is the first word that comes to mind when describing Golmaal Returns. As a sequel it manages to dive a few notches below the original.

Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi and Tusshar Kapoor, and Shreyas Talpade (replacing Sharman Joshi) are recast as the hapless heroes Gopal, Madhav and Lucky and Lakshman respectively, but they play completely different characters in new
relationships. The only similarity is that Lucky is still verbally-challenged.

Added in to the chaotic proceedings and convoluted plot are four love interests. The character of the saas-bahu obsessed suspicious wife played by Kareena Kapoor permits the writers to take digs at Balaji while also giving their shows many plugs. Then there’s the geeky — and rather redundant — sister (Amrita Arora), a hearing impaired fitness freak (Anjana Sukhani) and a virtuous damsel in distress (Celina Jaitly). That really sums it up for the ladies who are offered little in terms of script and role, besides Kapoor who engages moderately with her hallucinations and hysterics.

As for the blokes — they all seem to be having a jolly good time, especially Tusshar and Shreyas who take the physical comedy up a notch. Devgan and Warsi are at best so-so. The colour palette, art direction and song sequences are rather South Indian in look and feel, while the music, story and dialogues are a serious letdown.

But some scenes are just so silly that you cannot help but laugh out loud. Golmaal Returns feels like an old-school reunion, with plenty of in-jokes and a general sense of — god forbid — a ‘Golmaal 3’!