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EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: *** 1/2
Boys bonding is a great subject for comedies. Tarun Mansukhani tried it in
Dostana. Debutant director Rohit Dhawan gives a far more blithe and
effervescent spin to that thing called friendship that makes us do all kinds of
weird and wonderful things. Sometimes in tandem.
Desi Boyz is a very entertaining yarn about two guys in Britain
taking on recession with a bit of naughty moonlighting as, ahem ahem, gigolos.
Or, as brothel-chief Sanjay Dutt (who comes to the strains of Nayak nahin
khalnayak hoon main, a la Ra.One) describes it, Jerry (Akshay
Kumar) and Nick (John Abraham) are in the business of making women smile.
Desi Boyz goes beyond the fair sex. It makes everyone smile most of
the while. The editing (Nitin Rokade) is seamless, bringing together the four
principal actors` individual charms into a collective space without crowding the
canvas. To their credit every principal actor, and that includes Anupam Kher
(playing Deepika Padukone`s zany dad) and Omi Vaidya (as her wimpy fiance) seems
to get into the film`s vivacious frothy mood without letting the dark underbelly
of the film be squandered in frivolity.
Remarkably the film`s light crisp upper-crust secretes a hard sombre bedrock of
truth about how tough life can get in a super-competitive society where keeping
up appearances can also mean looking your best after being told you`ve just lost
your job.
Devastation is no reason for cosmetic bankruptcy.
Among this film`s many virtues of being an engaging rom-com is its unmistakable
glamour. The four main actors have seldom looked so fetching. Is it the camera
(N. Natarajan Subramnaniam), the lighting and the choreography, all first-rate,
or is it something more? The sheer pleasure that the actors derive in getting
into the mood of an intelligently-written comedy is palpable, almost every step
along the way. You can`t miss the pride in playing a part in a parody that never
plays dumb.
The narration moves effortlessly even while negotiating the highly filmy
episodes. There is a heart-wrenching orphaned little boy (Virej Dasani, adorably
cute) who needs a home with his bankrupt uncle (Akshay Kumar) badly. In movies
of yore the heroines would perform mujras in kothas to preserve the sanctity of
their family values. Here the boys strip and dance for their recession-hit
lives.
Admirably Rohit Dhawan`s screenplay turns the men into sex objects with comic
candour and without a trace of selfconsciousness. Not that the women are any
less attractive to the eye. Deepika Padukone has not much to do, and Chitrangda
even less. The latter gets to play strip poker during exam revision with her
`student` Akshay Kumar.
It`s a brilliantly written scene full of tantalizing possibilities.
Desi Boyz has ample room for skin-show and cheesiness. It goes for
the skin with elan and avoids the cheesy ramifications by simply turning away
from double meanings (the director Rohit`s father David Dhawan`s forte). Yes,
there`re phallic references and mischievous eye-rolling whispers and nudges
relying on women`s body-parts.
But the overall impression is that of a class comic act, a sumptuously-mounted
sex comedy, no pun, but plenty fun, intended.
The songs (Pritam) and the choreography remain true to the film`s
entertainment-quotient. And the performances are a delight. Deepika has just a
couple of scenes to sink her teeth into. She`s a delight in the sequence where
she tries to win John back from a Caucasian diversion in a pub. Chitrangda`s
sexy teacher act echoing Sushmita Sen in Main Hoon Na, shows her
taking full charge of the commercial language. She smoulders.
John Abraham had hardly ever been seen having so much fun. Though his dancing is
still lumbering, this ranks as his most watchable performance since New
York. And Anupam Kher as his father-in-law-to-be brings a queer blend of a
17-going-on-70 boy-man to his patriarch`s part. Great fun to play and to view.
But the film finally belongs to Akshay Kumar, make no mistake about that. While
other A-list stars from his generation have begun to look faded at the edges
Akshay gets better with each film. Here, in this film, his comic timing is
matched by his ability to hold up dramatic moments without letting them sink
into over-sentimentality. This is arguably Akshay`s best performance in a comic
role since Priyadarshan`s Hera Pheri.
Put your hands together for Desi Boyz. Smart, sassy, sexy and
sparkling with dark audacious humour, the film brings us a striking director in
Rohit Dhawan.
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The year is 2009. The world has been struck by the financial meltdown. But Nick Mathur and Jerry Patel don`t feel a thing in their comfortable pad in London.
Nick feels smug with his successful investment banking job, the new bonus in his pocket and his beautiful fiance, Radhika, by his side, while Jerry is so used to scraping the bottom of the barrel and living off his best buddy Nick, that recession feels like home. But life has a way of pulling the rug from under our feet.
Nick and Jerry stop smiling the day Nick`s company decides to downsize and unceremoniously fires him. And Jerry is informed by the Social Services that his nephew Veer, who`s local guardian Jerry is will be placed in a foster home unless he gets a steady job.
DESI BOYZ is the story of two men who are forced to do something extremely bizarre which gives them instant gratification but the repercussions tear them apart and its aftermath which tests everything including their friendship.