STARRING

Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, Neha Dhupia, Sameera Reddy, Johny Lever, Archana  Puran Singh, Manoj Joshi, Tinu Anand, Chunkey Pandey, Asrani, Vikram Gokhale, Rajpal Yadav, Aditi Govitrikar, Supriya Karnik and others.

DIRECTION

Priyadarshan

STORY

The plot revolves around the characters of two friends—Nitin Bankar(Akshay Kumar) and Ram Mishra(Suniel Shetty), who have gone to Singapore in search of a fortune. However, fortunes do not favor them and Nitin Bankar becomes a cook- cum- gardener to a wealthy industrialist Archana Puran Singh.

Nitin is in love with Anjali, the daughter of rich parents and is prepared to go to any length to marry her. Anjali even gives financial support to Nitin, and he wants to come out of all this by becoming a rich person.

On the other hand, Ram Mishra, who had also come with Nitin to change his misfortune into a big fortune, ends up as a courier man with a company. However, he falls for Manpreet Oberoi (Sameera Reddy), who belongs to very rich family.

Nitin Bankar is in love with ravishing Anjali Kakkad (Katrina Kaif) but does not have resources to propose her marriage. The parents of both girls- Anjali and Manpreet—are rich people and naturally want to marry off their daughters to suitably rich bridegrooms.

However, Nitin and Ram are deeply in love with Anjali and Manpreet and decide to do something to prevent the girls’ parents taking any decision about their marriage. They plan to kidnap someone rich and extort money, so that they can show themselves to be rich and competent enough for their lovely ladies.

Then there is a bankrupt businessman Harbans Chadda (Paresh Rawal), who wants some moneybag to give his daughter to his good-for-nothing son Chunky Pandey. The opportunity comes knocking when Harbans meets Manpreet’s rich parents at a Diwali function. Harbans cons them into believing that he was a businessman of repute and it would be beneficial for both parties to have the relationship.
In the meantime, the kidnapping planned by Nitin and Ram gets out of control and they flee the scene and take shelter in a hotel, where the reception of Manpreet is being held. Soon, they are joined by a hired assassin, an ACB police officer, a drunken waiter and some others.

What happens to Ram and Nitin’s love life afterwards is revealed in the later parts of the flick.

PERFORMANCE

Akshay Kumar, who plays the character of Nitin in the film, is again successful at tickling the funny bone of the audiences, especially so while doing the sad butler act in Archana Puran Sinng’s home. However, the sad part of the story is that Akshay Kumar, who could have lifted the film several notches from the ordinary, has been sidelined in the second half.

In fact, Akshay Kumar makes appearances in bits and parts in the second half and this goes totally against the flick. Akshay, who had proved his comic timing again and again in such movies like ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘Singh is Kinng’ etc gets sidelined in the second half, and the movie gets lost and fails to impress the viewer.

In fact, Akshay Kumar’s absence from the story in the second half, when he has been confined to a cupboard, works against the flick. It was only Akshay Kumar who could have provided the required upward kick to the flick with Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal(as they had proved in Priyadarshan’s earlier flicks  ‘Hera Pheri’ etc)

Katrina Kaif, the sizzling hot babe of bollywood who plays the character of Anjali Kakkad(love interest of Akshay Kumar), fails to live up to her reputation on the celluloid. In fact, the usually gorgeous looking babe seemed out of sort in the flick, as if not knowing what to do.

Those who wanted to see the continuation of Katrina Kaif’s superb comic timing of ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’ will be disappointed with her performance in ‘De Dana Dan’. The firang babe looks lost in the melee of characters that invade the screen in the second half of the flick.
 
Suniel Shetty, who plays the part of Akshay Kumar’s friend Ram Mishra, enacts his character well. His chemistry with Akshay and Paresh is good but fails to uplift the flick from its mediocrity in the second half.

Similarly, Paresh Rawal, the veteran actor of several successful comedies, who plays the character of a shrewd businessman Harbans, has come out with a winning performance. His con businessman act reminds one of Anupam Kher’s similar act in Aamir Khan-Madhuri Dixit starrer ‘Dil’.

Others like Sameera Reddy, Neha Dhupia enact their part well; however the styling and dresses seem to have bogged down these gorgeous ladies. Rajpal Yadav, Johny Lever, Manoj Joshi and all others who crowed the second half of the flick just pass the muster.

The direction of Priyadarshan seems to have gone all wrong this time. Perhaps the ace director had been bogged down by a wafer thin plot line of the flick. What seems inexplicable to the viewer is the fact that why would a director like Priyadarshan, who had earlier worked with Akshay Kumar, would chop his presence in the second half of the flick.

In fact, Priyadarshan’s judgment seems to have all gone wrong, especially in the matter of giving more footage to ensemble cast rather than Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. Recall that hotel scene where the chaos is created by these sidekicks by running behind each other without any great purpose or designs. For instance, Tinu Anand is running behind Paresh, Paresh is behind Manoj Joshi and Manoj gunning for Vikram Gokhale etc.

The music rendered by Pritam fails to inspire or impress viewers. The viewer expected tuneful music from Pritam but disappoints completely. The only saving grace is Akshay Kumar-Katrina Kaif ‘Paisa’ track, which has been done by a local Punjabi band. Ganesh Acharya’s choreography, too, fails to impress.


STARDUST VERDICT

Despite of presence of the hit pair of Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, the flick fails to impress in its totality due to a chaotic second half. The multitude of characters in the second half and the unusually long climax only adds to the woes of viewers. An average fare at the box office.


Star Rating: * *