Review : Deewane huye paagal

This film started off well, with a poetic narrative from Vivek Oberoi, and I was hoping for a Wodehouse-ian comedy. However, the film soon degenerated into what can only be called an absolute mess of perfectly good tripe. To be fair, the begining and end are OK, it’s the big, stretchy middle which is the problem. If this is a remake of “There’s something about Mary”, it’s a pretty pathetic one.The film has 2 plots, out of which one actually gave me hope. The first deals with a scientist (Puri) who discovers the formula to ever-lasting youth, and plans to sell it. However, his assistant betrays him, and tries to sell the formula to the scientist’s criminal twin brother. The scientist however manages to lock the formula’s secret into a safe, records the safe’s combination into a voice-recording parrot-toy, and runs away with it. Before the goons murder him, he slips the parrot into a girl’s (Sen) bag. The girl witnesses the murder, and the criminals see her, but she manages to escape. The criminals get the safe but not the code, and are unable to open it.

Now for the second plot : Tanya (Sen) is a happy-go-lucky college girl, without parents, but has a retarded younger brother (an aging Rakesh Bedi). What she uses for money is anybody’s guess – maybe she’s an heiress ! Anyway, poor Karan (Kapoor) who is a student and works in the college canteen to make end’s meet is besotted with her. And she comes to like him too. It is to his B’day celebration that she’s driving when she encounters the scientist, and he unbeknownst to her slips the parrot into the gift she’s carrying for Karan.

After witnessing the scientist’s murder, Tanya, scared for her life, goes back home, gathers up her belongings and her brother, and runs away. Karan waits for her, but realises she’s left, when he comes to her home to find her. He finds the gift she was bringing to him, looks inside and finds the parrot, and believing it to be from her, keeps it as a treasured memory. He still tries to find her, and gets news that she’s in Dubai living with an aunt. Hence intelligent Karan, and the canteen’s owner Murugan, hire Rocky (Akshay Kumar) to find her in Dubai, and Karan gives Rocky the parrot to show to Tanya as a sign of recognition/love.

Rocky travels to Dubai, finds her, and falls in love with her himself. Being a crook of the first order, he gives Karan a story about Tanya being married and disabled etc. Karan is undeterred however and wishes to assist her, therefore stays back in Dubai. He soons finds out that Tanya has changed her name to Natasha, and Rocky has been decieving him because of his own feelings for Tanya.

Tanya’s coterie consists of her aunt (Supriya Pilgaonkar), handicapped Tommy (Paresh Rawal), wanna-be-boyfriend and handicapped architect Sanju (Shetty). Now Tommy, Sanju, Rocky and Karan, and a blind scooterist (Asrani) are all vying for Tanya’s love, and Tanya’s just the innocent babe in the woods. Now who actually gets her ? Also you’ve got to be wondering about the first plot, and the parrot, which is currently in Rocky’s custody. It all mashes together in the end, with some interesting chase sequences, and the daily dose of sacrifice (we are desi, what to do ?).

Now for the acting : Shahid Kapoor and Rimi Sen are bad actors – plain and simple. Johnny Lever as Murugan overacts and is not funny. On Puri, Suresh Menon (as Puri’s son) and Vijay Raaz (as Rocky’s side-kick) contribute hugely towards the comedy. Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar are good in their roles, and Supriya Pilgaonkar is about average.

The film moves at a pretty fast clip, there’s lots happening and it’s happening really fast. Sandwiched in-between are the songs, which don’t uplift the movie any. Direction is OK although the film’s story has BIG kinks in it. Even ignoring some of the minor ones, here’s a biggie : Why is Tanya/Natasha who’s so scared for her life, that she’s actually changed her name, attempting to be a singing star (a public figure) and prancing about on television ? Won’t the killers actually find her then ?

Oh, well ! I can’t recommend this movie. But if you absolutely ignore the voice in your head that tells you that the director is insane, you might be able to sit through this one.