Priyadarshan – 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.
Kamaal 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.
The 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.
Coming 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.
Bottom-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.
My Rating: Expectation – 6/10; Reality – 5/10
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