De Dhana Dhan

The great entertainers, the winsome team of Akshay, Sunil, Paresh and Priyadarshan are back, though not so entertaining this time. Priyadarshan popular for comedies like ‘Hera Pheri’ and ‘Bhool Bhulaiya’ has created a ruckus on the screen instead of making it a laugh-riot. Except for a few funny scenes and characters, this caper is exacting and exhausting. A multitude of comic characters thrown together in a plethora of mistaken identities and situations do not make for a goodcomedy. The end result of all the cacophony is just a waste of money and a headache.

Comedies these days seem to follow the slapstick genre and tag on repeated formulas. This film has used all such so-called comic ingredients; Priyan has mixed and tossed them to produce this most unsavoury dish. 

Two broke men, Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty, struggle to make ends meet in Singapore. They want to make quick money and marry their rich girlfriends (Katrina and Sameera). They try to accomplish this by kidnapping Moolchandji ( a dog). This leads to two-and-a-half hours of such utter dissonance set in a luxurious hotel in Singapore that it becomes an ordeal to keep track of the two dozen different characters .

All the bizarre confusion, twists and turns just leave one totally drained. There is the trademark Priyan climax with all the characters in the final chaotic scene running helter-skelter.

Pritam’s music is all right, especially the song ‘Tu paisa paisa’  which makes the audience feel a little refreshed. The actors have all done their bits fairly well; Paresh stands out as the Punjabi, Chaddha. The film lacks the most important ingredient in a comedy — good one-liners or punches.

‘De Dhana Dhan’ is a loud movie full of characters screaming and shouting for your attention.