De Dana Dan

By: Sumesh Vasishth

Star Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Neha Dhupia, Sameera Reddy, Archana Puran Singh, Aditi Govitrikar, Asrani, Chunky Pandey, Johny Lever, Manoj Joshi, Rajpal Yadav, Supriya Karnik, Tinu Anand, Vikram Gokhale, Sharat Saxena, Himani Shivpuri

Producers: Ganesh Jain, Girish Jain, Ratan Jain

Director: Priyadarshan

SantaBanta Rating: **1/2

Ever wondered why bizarre and Akshay kumar rhyme so well? He is not some blue blooded second generation rich star kid who had it all easy. I love this guy for his sheer tenacity, his indomitable spirit and rustic charm which makes him so accessible to all and sundry. He is a hero we can all love and laugh at. And with De Dana Dan, life has come full circle for this ‘adorable buffoon’.

Like all Priyan films it’s a maze, perhaps the biggest of them all. Two broke pals, their rich girlfriends desperate to marry them, the girls’ respective fathers desperate to marry them off elsewhere, a bankrupt businessman who’s getting his useless son engaged to every heiress in town to pay off his debts , assorted characters like a Chinese don, a hired assassin, a rich bitch, an police officer, a club dancer, an ambassador, his young frustrated wife, a letch, a drunken waiter, a dead body nobody wants and above all... Moolchandji - the most pampered dog in the world.

Throw in a kidnapping or dognapping to be precise, mistaken identities and mistaken room numbers; an assassin on the prowl, a wedding, a couple of item songs and you get a perfect masala for a typical Priyan film where everyone is running amok in the end.

Feeling exhausted?

Well, you feel the same when you sit through it, especially if you aren’t very fond of poorly executed slapstick comedies. The problem with DDD is the spurious entertainment that is pushed down your throat unlike the good old Hera Pheri subtlety.

Keep your ear plugs handy as Archana Puran Singh keeps shouting in the sloppy first half. Barring a few sparkling Akki -Sunil Shetty moments there isn’t much to laugh about here.

Things don’t improve in the second half either. The confusion and proverbial Priyadarshan drama continues as Paresh Rawal and Manoj Joshi scream their lungs out now.

Katrina looks ravishing but has nothing much to do apart from looking good. As for Sameera Reddy, the pretty lady should seriously think of a career switch. The only relatively pleasant surprises are smouldering hot Neha Dhupia and the usually loud Johnny Lever.

But all is not lost in DDD. One has to give it to director Priyadarshan for successfully picking up all the threads in the script that has so many subplots. Pritam's music is okay but RDB’s 'Paisa', is the rocking one.

De Dana Dan is a watershed film for Akki. The Blockbuster Kumar, with the films like 8x10 Tasveer and Blue, has tried every trick in the book to establish himself as a contrarian but eventually what worked for him was Kambakht Ishq.

Again, if De Dana Dan works, it might please Akshay Kumar, the businessman but it should ring alarm bells for Akshay Kumar, the actor as it seriously curtails his shelf life.

Why he, always, has to retreat to his typical shenanigans to deliver a hit? Why all his films have to be mindless ones? For once, why can't we see an Akki film where we don’t have to part with our grey matter? I hope and pray that he is listening.

My verdict is go watch De Dana Dan, if you relish inane comedies, in case you don't, watch Hera Pheri rerun on your DVD player.