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Hungama 2 Review: Priyadarshan's comedy with Shilpa Shetty, Meezaan & Paresh Rawal is too long to be funny
Pinkvilla reviews Priyadarshan's comic caper, Hungama 2 featuring Paresh Rawal, Shilpa Shetty, Meezaan, Ashutosh Rana and Pranitha Subhash.
Movie: Hungama 2
Cast: Paresh Rawal, Shilpa Shetty, Meezaan, Ashutosh Rana, Pranitha Subhash
Director: Priyadarshan
Platform: Disney+Hotstar
Rating: 2/5
Hungama (2003) has attained a cult status over the last 2 decades and when the makers announced a sequel to the comic caper, it was always going to be a challenge for them to live onto its legacy. While Hungama 2 is nowhere close to Hungama, it fails even independently to create an identity. The story revolves around how the lives of three families – Kapoors, Bajajs and Tiwaris – goes for a toss when a young woman named Vaani (Pranitha Subhash) claims to be the mother to Aakash Kapoor’s (Meezaan) daughter.
Priyadarshan had an interesting plot in hand with ample scope to amp up the confusion in the screenplay to evoke laughter through the narrative, however, surprisingly the film is devoid of humorous gags. As the confusion piles up, Hungama 2 switches to the dramatic space in the writing with actors like Rajpal Yadav, Johnny Lever, Tiku Talsania acting as a mere tool to infuse humor with some one-liners. The plot with the vintage Priyadarshan from the 2000s would have been a riot, but for some reason, instead of going all out with the comedy, he tries to balance it with drama and emotions.
Hungama 2 isn’t a film that tries too hard to be funny, Hungama 2 is a film that just doesn’t want to be funny
Pinkvilla
Full marks to Priyadarshan and the producers, Ratan and Ganesh Jain for going all out to ensure a lavish scale. Hungama 2 is beautifully shot, with no compromise made on the visual appeal, but it needed a whackier screenplay. Priyan would have certainly approached the same story differently, if he had made this film 15 years back. The film rides on five gags, which are funny –the entire sequence featuring Johnny Lever, the first interaction of Manoj Joshi and Ashutosh Rana to discuss Meezaan’s wedding, Paresh Rawal planning to spike Meezaan’s drink, Rajpal Yadav coming to Aakash’s rescue and the first wedding gate crashed by Rajpal and Meezaan. The four gags aside, there are some reactions from Tiku Talsania and Ashutosh Rana that bring in the laughs, but the aforementioned sequences aside, it’s a drag.
Hungama 2 isn’t a film that tries too hard to be funny, Hungama 2 is a film that just doesn’t want to be funny. The music covers the college romance of Meezaan and Pranitha and it’s a smart move from the makers to wrap it up in the two songs, rather than extending the story further with a prolonged flashback. The makers could have edited the tale in a runtime of 120 to 125 minutes, rather than extending it to a 156-minute saga. The dialogues by Anukalp Goswami and Manisha Korde are funny in parts, but otherwise too routine. While the story is just the usual, it does take a rather shocking and regressive turn in the pre-climax sequence.
Hungama 2 is not pretentious or tacky, it’s just not funny enough to be termed a comedy
Pinkvilla
Speaking of performances, the film belongs primarily to Ashutosh Rana, Rajpal Yadav and Tiku Talsania. They are absolute riot through their screen time, however, let down by the script. It’s rather refreshing to see Ashutosh in a comic avatar after a series of serious roles. Paresh Rawal is surprisingly not in his elements, and is certainly a victim of being offered a poorly sketched character. While his Radheshyam Tiwari has an interesting arc of being insecure of his wife’s beauty, it’s let down by the unimaginative writing. Meezaan is sincere and likeable as the boy next door, Aakash. Pranitha Subhash is decent in her part. Shilpa Shetty makes a return to acting after 14 years, and looks elegant from the word go, however, the character doesn’t have ample of scope to perform. Johnny Lever leaves a mark with his 5-minute cameo and one wished, he had a bigger role in the film.
Hungama 2 had the potential of being a laugh riot, but ended up as a disappointing affair. While there are ample situations to elevate the confusion with gags, the makers hold back from doing so, which results in it being a film devoid of laughter. Hungama 2 is not pretentious or tacky, it’s just not funny enough to be termed a comedy!
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