Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal

At the outset let me tell you that I am not a fan of the recent lot of 'filmed by Priyadarshan' comedies. The last one I mildly enjoyed was Billu. ... read more

At the outset let me tell you that I am not a fan of the recent lot of 'filmed by Priyadarshan' comedies. The last one I mildly enjoyed was Billu. Watching a Priyadarshan comedy is akin to torture for me.

Peter (Paresh Rawal) and David (Om Puri) are two friends turned enemies. David's son Johnny (Shreyas Talpade) fondly called Bakri because of his darpok nature is in love with Ma Peter's daughter Maria (Madhurima Banerjee). Johnny's daily activity is to get beaten up by Maria's brothers or if they are not free then by any other person in the village. he wins a symbolic lottery in the form of the arrival of a stranger with no name (Nana Patekar) who becomes his personal bodyguard. Who is this stranger? Why is he here? Will Johnny be free from the daily thrashings? Kamaal dhamaal malamaal will answer all these questions in the most boring way possible.

I was looking forward to this film for only one reason. That is Nana Patekar and Priyadarshan working together. But, Nana Patekar is in an almost mute mode throughout the film like a walking mechanical zombie. Most of the film rests on Shreyas's shoulder and as always he can't carry a film on his own. If there is an award for the most beaten up actor in a film then Shreyas in this film would be a worthy contender and a possible winner. Googling an image search of Madhurima Banerjee gave better results than her performance in the film. Though the film had the potential to work on the mysterious character of Nana the script wanders about as disinterested as his character in the film. Paresh Rawal who is the lead in the other release of this week 'Oh My God' is completely side tracked here and is used as a junior artist. Om Puri gets more screen time than him. This film tires you by the time it ends.

Word of mouth - na kamaal na dhamaal na malamaal. Fatigue inducing bore maal.

Rating - ** (Below Average)

Ticket Meter - worth 50 bucks

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Kamaal Dhamaal Malaamal is a pointless movie. Riding on Shreyas Talpade's frail shoulders, it was not going too far and the people propping him up... read more

Kamaal Dhamaal Malaamal is a pointless movie. Riding on Shreyas Talpade's frail shoulders, it was not going too far and the people propping him up- Nana Patekar, Om Puri ,Paresh Rawal etc do little to lighten the burden.

I am not going to bore you with the non-story. Suffice to say, the dialogues are disgusting and very insulting at times. In the entire movie I giggled but twice so I guess it fails the comedy test. I don't know how Priyadarshan can call this a comedy after making a movie like Hera Pheri.

Priyadarshan said in an interview “You can make sensible movies in Malayalam, because the audiences have the attitude and aptitude to watch such movies. But in North India, audiences come only for entertainment and they don't want to strain their minds”. Well, that is a very patronizing attitude and I don't think audiences like to be taken for such a mindless ride, in North India or anywhere else. Avoid at all costs.

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Distressing because a stellar amount of talent - Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Nana Patekar - is wasted in an insipid comedy. Disappointing because one g... read more

Distressing because a stellar amount of talent - Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Nana Patekar - is wasted in an insipid comedy.

Disappointing because one goes expecting a fun time out but after two hours into the movie expecting, some twists or laughs from the story, one is actually dying to get out of the theatre.

A questions begs to be asked : Did Priyadarshan outsource the direction of this movie to a newbie out of 'film school'? Is the man who actually extracted some comic timing out of Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty (Hera Pheri) losing his touch?

To be fair there is a story somewhere. However, when the first half of the story (almost two hours) is mostly committed to convincing us that Shreyas Talpade's character is lazy, cowardly, unemployed AND chased by his love interest's brothers, subsequently and successfully caught and beaten up by them, one wonders WHY IS THIS SWEET GIRL FROM A RICH HOUSEHOLD INTERESTED ENOUGH TO EVEN THROW THIS FELLOW A GLANCE LET ALONE ELOPE?????? The love angle appears completely unconvincing and the two prancing around the river bank looks like a really low budget 'romance' movie trying really hard.

The onus of delivering on the comedy front falls almost entirely on Shreyas Talpade unless of course Nana Patekar's monosyllables and strangely huge appetite and meal plans are considered funny or people falling into one of the hundred pits dug by Nana Patekar is funny. To Talpade's credit, one does not feel like bludgeoning him for hamming - there is talent somewhere.

Did the director try too hard or just not enough? That a good comedy does not need a sexy, expensively attired star cast, item numbers, foreign locations, forced situations has been proven by Priyadarshan. All he had to do was take his talented cast and keep the storytelling slick.

The songs were unnecessary, the 'twist' comes in too late when one has lost all interest in the movie and one wonders what happened to three hours of one's life.

The decision to see the movie is entirely yours. No opinion is volunteered out of respect for the three stalwarts mentioned at the start of this review.

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\tPriyadarshan - the name is all about a classy phrase on which all films rely on - Suspension of disbelief. He mastered this craft with heavy dose... read more

\tPriyadarshan - the name is all about a classy phrase on which all films rely on - Suspension of disbelief. He mastered this craft with heavy doses of uncanny production design, quirky characters, slapstick comedy etc. Every scene moves at such a frantic pace and forces the audience to fall into a laughter trap. It happens again in his recent flick Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal. Don't get perplexed with the title - It's neither a sequel to Malamaal Weekly nor holds any semblance to it. The only common thread that connects the two is the hero's fetish for lottery tickets and the brand name of the ticket - Malamaal weekly.\r
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\tKamaal Dhamaal Malamaal is a remake of super-hit Malayalam film Marykkundoru Kunjaadu. Surprisingly, the movie had a 150 day run in Kerala and is rated 7.1 on IMDB. Like his other movies, Priyan restores the same characters and locations from the original without much change. This makes the movie a little hard to stomach by the Hindi film audience because the aura it exuberates is typically Mallu. Though Sabu Cyril made some decent sets to create a village atmosphere, the movie's template is not that glossy. The villagers try to provide over-the-board comedy but you need to be a fan of Priyan to appreciate that and enjoy every fun filled moment.\r
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\tThe movie has an intense plot and pieces of it are thrown onto the audience at regular intervals. Once you get into the shoes of Priyadarshan and treat all the characters and happenings to be believable, the movie-watching experience becomes a roller coaster ride. You will be aghast by the mysterious happenings but there is dent to the proceedings that comes in the form of miserable performances by some characters, boredom and predictability. The movie stretches like a chewing gum in the second half and one particular scene has been elongated to an excruciating length. \r
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\tComing to the acting department, Om Puri and Paresh Rawal are the lifelines of the film. With a perfect comic timing and fine portrayal of their characters, they prove that they are still the best. They own the movie and they do everything with poise. Shreyas Talpade plays Johnny “The Bakri” whose lazy antics take you on a joy ride. He does proper justice to his role. Madhurima Banerjee is lukewarm with a pleasant smile. She plays the love interest of Shreyas but has got less to do in that role. There aren't any proper songs that can be called romantic or that can surface the love element between the two. I still can't understand why Anjana Sukhani is wasted in that shoddy item number. The man to watch out is Nana Patekar. Albeit he looks serious with his deadpan like role, he's engrossing all though the movie.\r
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\tBottom-line: Watch Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal if you are fan of Priyadarshan. This has got all his usual elements of laughter and nonsense, but without compromising on the emotional quotient.\r
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will be\ufeff watching this movie only because of Nana?