Housefull 3

HAD THERE BEEN a meter to measure the levels of sexism and racism in the Housefull series, this edition would indicate a sharp dip in both. Director duo Sajid- Farhad have retained the same wacky humour of the franchise, but minus the coarser jokes and incoherent plot lines. Also, the women in the film, earlier presented as either bimbos or sexual predators, have been entrusted the task of interpreting the jokes for us.

In the film, three London dudes, all losers afflicted with a variety of challenges that impede their professional success, are dating three sisters, daughters of a Gujarati millionaire (Boman Irani) with a country estate. These girls are NRIs, not too proficient in the Hindi language, and are given to translating metaphors from English to Hindi. Most of the humour in Housefull 3 is based on this convoluted literal interpretation. It is not always funny, but at least the crude slapstick of yore has been elevated to the level of puns, similes and other verbal duels. The story revolves around a football player called Sandy (Akshay Kumar), a rapper called Bunty (Abhishek Bachchan) and a racing car driver called Teddy (Riteish Deshmukh), all attracted to the lolly. The long-legged ladies are named after our holy rivers, Ganga (Jacqueline Fernandez), Jamuna (Lisa Haydon) and Saraswati (Nargis Fakhri). A send-up of tradition is part of the general ambience in the movie, but stops being funny after a certain point.

The only gag that continues to work is the psychological impediment faced by Sandy. After encountering racism in London, he becomes allergic to the word ‘Indian’ and goes into paroxysms of rage on hearing it spoken. Teddy comes up with a solution. He suggests that a possible antidote to Sandy’s affliction could be administered by uttering the word ‘Pakistani’. Unfortunately, even this does not cure him. In truth there exists no antidote to Housefull 3 either.

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Ajit Duara