Friday Flicks: Masand's Verdict

Phir Hera Pheri

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Bipasha Basu and Rimii Sen

Direction: Neeraj Vora

Six years after Hera Pheri left us rolling in the aisles, comes that film's sequel Phir Hera Pheri starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal — the same leads from the original.

The new picture's been directed by Neeraj Vora, who'd been credited with writing the dialogue for the original film. Now Phir Hera Pheri starts off where the last film ended.

The three friends are rich and leading a life of luxury after having won all that reward money in the previous film. But the greed hasn't gone. An anonymous phone call enticing them to invest in a chit-fund business kicks off a series of misadventures which includes a run-in with lisping gangsters, a drug deal gone wrong, an arms robbery, and finally a chaotic climax in a circus ring.

Much in the tradition of the first, the women have little to do but show up for the songs. Bipasha Basu and Rimii Sen play the love interests this time round.

Now in my opinion, comedy is a tricky genre. After all, humour is different things to different people. You might enjoy the fall-down-and-hurt-yourself kind of slapstick comedy, and I might enjoy those clever, well-written lines. And both are funny, both are entertaining.

Most importantly, both kinds of comedies need to coexist. But I notice that increasingly we're making only childish slapstick comedies with loud screaming and shouting. The other problem I have with most Bollywood comedies is that they require — and even advocate — that you leave your brains behind while watching them. Hell, why? Why must you always be expected to suspend your disbelief while watching a comedy? Why can't we have smart comedies?

Although, which was the last 'smart' Bollywood comedy you remember — Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Andaaz Apna Apna? After that, what? Well, the thing about Phir Hera Pheri is that there are moments that are really funny, and then there are long, long portions that seem unnecessarily contrived.

Why do filmmakers feel obliged to stretch their films to a three-hour duration? Haven't they learnt that there's nothing like too much of a good thing? I think you'll agree with me when I say that the reason we all so loved Hera Pheri was because at the time, we were just blown away by the performances and by the energy in that film.

To give credit where it's due, the three leads do manage to duplicate that abundant energy, that enthusiasm in Phir Hera Pheri. Paresh Rawal as the fumbling-bumbling Baburao is once again on his toes and pretty much holding the picture together. And Akshay Kumar really seems to have found his calling in comedy. But the flipside here is that I'm not sure I want to see Paresh Rawal do another comic role for a few years at least. Because as entertaining as he may be, he's repeating himself again and again and again.

So I'm guessing the questions you want answered are: Do I recommend Phir Hera Pheri? Is it a worthy sequel to the first film? Is it worth a watch? Should you spend some hundred and fifty bucks to watch it in the cinema? Well, there's just no easy way to answer this.

Phir Hera Pheri has its moments but it's nowhere as entertaining as the original film. If you loved Hera Pheri as much as I did, I'm guessing you'll go watch this one anyway and sure, please do that.

But do consider what I have to say — is this really the only kind of comedy you want to see on screen? Such mind-numbing entertainment? Think about it. My verdict meanwhile, director Neeraj Vora's Phir Hera Pheri is only an average comedy which raises a few laughs yes, but mostly it just depresses you about the sorry state of humour in Bollywood.

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)