Hungama 2 review

Hungama 2's three-point torture is simple -- confound, frustrate and prolong, feels Sukanya Verma.

Everybody talks out of turn.

Nobody wants to listen.

Few wish to come to the point.

Fewer get to finish their sentences.

Those who do go on and on about nothing in a roundabout manner.

Misunderstandings, lies and interruptions drag out a moronic plot anybody could see right through in their sleep.

But Hungama 2's three-point torture is simple -- confound, frustrate and prolong.

When humour is testing the viewer’s patience for never-ending scenes of forced misconceptions masquerading as fun, it becomes agony. And Priyadarshan's return to direction is stuff of pain.

The once prolific film-maker has made some funny movies in the past, but Hungama 2, which is neither a sequel to Hungama nor as tolerable, is a poppycock relic that cannot even produce a half smile forget chuckle.

Remember Juhi Chawla disrupting Aamir Khan's engagement party with kids to announce he's already married to her in Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke? Hungama 2's plot is along the same lines except the girl (a staggeringly stiff Pranitha Subhash) is not kidding.

What was already stuff of parody in 1993 is palmed off as the premise with a dollop of Parichay and its brand of brats in need of disciplining thrown in.

A splendorous and scenic Himachal forms the backdrop of this yawn yarn where the lacklustre Meezaan Jaffrey's accused behaves like a complete boor towards his ex from college and the mysterious baby she is claiming to be theirs.

There's no respite from any direction.

Shilpa Shetty's so-called comeback doesn't get any meat or minutes.

Barring her spiffy styling as the hot secretary and trophy wife of Paresh Rawal's perennially suspicious half and cashing on the nostalgia of Main Khiladi Tu Anari's chartbuster Churake Dil Mera in a rotten remix, the actress has precious little to do.

If Ashutosh Rana as Jaffrey's huff and puff dad struggles to stay dignified around such extreme farce, Paresh Rawal, who collaborated with Priyan on many memorable movies, has to contend with pigeon potty on his face.

Other comic veterans, Johnny Lever in an overdone Bong accent and Rajpal Yadav doing his usual muddled-up gig, fail to provide any relief.

Akshaye Khanna throws a token appearance as a link to the earlier Hungama. You really wish he hadn't. He really looks like he hadn't.

When a character cries out loud, Dimag ki dahi kar di, is perhaps the only time I felt the movie talking to me.

Wonder how out of touch one must be with the world to imagine something this obsolete would have any takers?

Hungama 2 streams on Disney Hotstar.