I managed to grab a front row seat (Minutes before the house full board was flashed by a proud usher at the ticket window) an hour prior to the second show of `Phir Hera Pheri' in a premium multiplex in Mumbai. And going by the rocking public response to this laugh riot, I am quite sure the house full board will be a permanent fixture in the days ahead. It is good news for `Krrish' producer-director Rakesh Roshan. For, `Phir Hera Pheri' breaks the jinx that sequels never work in India. It's a `paisa vasool' film that will give you far too many gags to cherish-n-enjoy.
Welcome once again to the mercurial world of the awesome-tri-some Baburao Ganpat Rao Apte (Paresh Rawal), Raju (Akshay Kumar) and Shyam (Suniel Shetty). The three incorrigible partners, who just can't live-or-live-without-each-other. Taking a cue from Priyadarshan's original version, the story moves forward on the bumpy terrain. The riches that the trio had acquired, courtesy the benevolence of Devi Prasad (Whose granddaughter they had rescued from the dreaded Kabira) is `invested' in a chit fund scheme on the insistence of idea-man Raju who also cons a local thug Pappu (Rajpal Yadav) to pump in some of his own money so that it could get doubled in twenty five days. The simple looking Anuradha (Bipasha Basu), the manager of the chit fund scheme dupes them of their money and they are left with no option other than selling their bungalow to get back to the stinking Mumbai `chawl'.
Thereafter, their life is a roller coaster ride from one mishap to another. Pappu gets after Raju while Raju finds out that Anuradha is a bar dancer. He also develops affection for his new landlord's daughter Anjali (Rimi Sen) who turns out to be Pappu's sister. Pappu on his part is being harassed by his boss (Sharath Saxena) and his brother (Ravi Kisan) both of whom have an incredulous lisping disorder. For repaying their debt, the three musketeers rob their neighbour Munna (Johny Lever), a local thug with a big haul of expensive drugs. What follows is one dog catching hold of another one's tail. And the tale-of-laughter marches forward. Non-stop!
`Phir Hera Pheri' is a winner all the way. But it's not without its bloopers. In Mumbai city even a 1BHK at Carter Road, Bandra costs more than Rs 70 lakhs, then how can a plush swanky bungalow with a huge swimming pool can be sold at merely Rs 50 lakh while three antique guns are showed to be worth more than Rs 5 crores. Bipasha Basu's dubbed voice defies reason as to why should her deep bassy voice be replaced by a squeaky one. The screen time given to both her and Rimi is pathetically small while Suniel Shetty's jaded performance screams the fact that, Anna must concentrate only on character or supporting roles from here on as his time as a lead hero is up. A couple of songs are unnecessarily added to accommodate foreign locations. And producer Feroze Nadiadwala's fixation for bikini clad bimbettes shaking their bum or two defiantly continues.
After the bad news comes the good one. Except for a few blemishes, `Phir Hera Pheri' relaxes you completely. In fact, it showers more laughter than what you may have asked for. The circus climax reminds you of the Ramlila episode in Kundan Shah's `Jaane Bhi Do Yaron' for its sheer farcical comic element. In spite of a huge star cast, one man who emerges like a breath of fresh air is Akshay Kumar. He does the incredible by outsmarting even the irrepressible Paresh Rawal. His Rs 1000 rupee note antics bring the house down with guffaws-galore. It's a delight seeing him honing his craft and at the same it's very clear that he is having a great time doing what he is doing.
Rawal is expectedly good. The scene where he takes a bath by emptying buckets from a swimming pool tells volumes about the confidence of this gigantic actor. Johny Lever is getting back into form. His
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