Desi Boyz - Bollywood movie

Film: “Desi Boyz”

Starring: Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Chitrangda Singh, Anupam Kher

Written & Directed by: Rohit Dhawan

Rating: 

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” 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. – IANS