Review: GREAT GRAND MASTI

Na Sex Hai, Na Comedy. This Bhoot Tale Is Not Titillating!

1 star

Mini Review:

Amar, Meet and Prem are back on the screen with the third instalment of their almost sexcapade. This time the story is set in a haunted house. But no matter what the setting is, the comedy remains shallow: the jokes do not go beyond buxom women and male genitalia. It could have been very funny had they aimed at ‘Carry On’ series, but they do not go beyond bad Whatsapp jokes.

Main Review:

Everything in this movie is so obvious, they could have easily called it, ‘Men Who Stare At Boobs’. With due apologies to the women reading, let me continue. Staring at female bosoms may be the pastime of young men, but a two hour movie, is stretching the joke too far.

I will be the first person to say, yes, there are five instances which show us how clever the writing is and what this movie could have been, but it remains in the realm of playing the piano with a viagra induced erection.

So the three lads (Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani and Vivek Oberoi) land up in a haunted house in Doodhwadi (don’t ask! It has exactly all the visuals desperate for sex lads can dream up). They are confronted by a sexy woman (Urvashi Rautela) who says she can fulfill all their wishes. By now you know what their reaction will be: the cartoon dog panting, salivating at the sight of a steak. Not again you say, but the woman turns out to be a ghost who insists that she needs to be ‘serviced’ or she won’t let them leave.

Here is where you see a flash of wit. ‘Mere shauk poore karo or main tum ko shock par shock doongi.’ The aural pun roughly translates to ‘Fulfill my ‘shauk’ (desires) or I will give you ‘shock’ (electric ones, because there are no surprises here)’

That brings me to the four other funny lines in the film. Watch out for them because they are thrown in casually as though they did not know that they were funny. But they are funnier than woman stuffing cash into her blouse. Here are the funny lines:

1. ‘Bada aaya Kambal Haasan!’ said to a man with a blanket (Kambal) who tries to deter the three lads from going to the haunted house.
2. The same blanket clad man is called Ramsay, after the famous Ramsay Brothers who made cult horror movies. Since he is telling tales of a haunted house, the joke is awesome, truly.
3. ‘Gaon mein wow!’ the lads say when they imagine buxom, scantily clad women in Doodhwadi.
4. When the two lads are suggesting the third look into the mirror because the ghost doesn’t have an image, he says, ‘Aaina chhodo, muaaina karne do!’ Clever aural pun on mirror (aaina) and ‘ckecking out’ (muaaina).

Am I spoiling the movie for the audience? Not at all. The movie has been created for lads who stare at body parts. That’s why the three wives of the heroes are reduced to being just bodies. That’s why you have to suffer the long standing jokes at the level of Antakshari Baba who has watermelon coming out of his…

When will we make a smart sex comedy, I wonder? Even if we copy Mel Brooks, it will be brilliant. His movies had erections and buxom women, but no tables rose like here. He was hiding in a harem dressed as a eunuch in a feathered skirt, and he is discovered because the feathers fly when he sees the buxom queen. Those movies were funny. These face pulling men who shake as though being mildly electrocuted are not funny. They’re just amateur cartoonish creatures.

(this review appears on nowrunning dot com)