Remember those kiddie jokes we used to crack in school days, that three guys get together and discuss their daddies. So the first guy says, “My daddy is so strong that blah blah.” To go a step ahead of the first guy, the second guy says, “Oh that’s nothing, my daddy is so strong that blah blah blah.” And then the punchline come with the third guy who claims that his daddy is so strong that blah blah blah blah, and we all collapse laughing at the sheer stupidity of the joke.
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Inder Kumar's Masti is just like that. Three guys meet to discuss their wives:-
Riteish: “My wife is so bad she makes me do physical exercises the whole day”
Aftab: “My wife is worse she does puja, vrats and jagratas all the time and has no inclination for you know what”
Vivek: “And my wife is the worst, she never leaves me alone for even a minute, and keeps calling me up every half hour when I’m away”
Sick and tired of their wives, they decide to have an affair each. After a few hiccups each, they meet a femme fatale Monica (Lara Dutta). Soon, the fun turns into a nightmare, and before long they have a cop behind their sorry butts - Ajay Devgan – (who obviously must have charged Inder Kumar a bomb to agree to do this stupid role)
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Statutory Warning: Do not see Masti with Family, unless you want to:-
1) Expose your impressionable son to how one boy can please another boy
2) Watch along with your parents a urinating cross-dresser (or was it a transvestite? I wish they had specified)
3) Sit next to your younger sister and squirm when the act of lovemaking is compared graphically with cycling
Moreover the film had a working title Khujli during its making which lent rather very well to the overall theme and the dialogues & gestures employed.
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Masti makes one wonder, why don’t the guys ever even once ask their wives to give them what they want. Surely everything is available on request, but first one has got to make the request.
For example take Aftab. When you see the pretty Tara Sharma one wonders why does he simply not demand 'it' from her, why does he allow her to get away with all those vratts, jagraatas, pujas etc.
Though, I got my answer when Tara Sharma started talking. One line in her grating cacophonic dialogue delivery, even you would want her to shut up and observe vratts forever. Anyway, she is cute the way she clutches at her mangalsutra whenever Aftab is in trouble.
Vivek’s wife is possibly the worst among the species. A sticky, clinging, wishy-washy whiny, investigative detective instead of a wife. Amrita Rao, hasn’t much screen time but does a good job anyway.
And then there is Riteish’s wife. Not much screen time again, I don’t know her name so lets simplify matters by referring to her as ‘Loreal Lip Colour & Chambor Eye Make Up’ (LLCCEMU). There is one hilarious scene when Riteish walks into his first night and the entire room slowly metamorphoses into a jail with the bride LLCCEMU assuming the part of a jail warden.
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The Art Direction is definitely helpful. Since the three girls are so easily interchangeable as far as acting goes, it is best to identify them by the colors on the walls of their respective homes.
# Viveks wife Amrita: Red walls, white and red pillars
# Aftabs wife Tara: Golden walls with religious murals
# Riteish’s wife LLCCEMU: Blue walls and a mother-in-law who moves like Lesnar and talks like Razor Ramon - Archana Puran Singh. I didn’t know this madwoman was also there in the movie. But since she is as crazed as ever, she was most welcome.
And of course, none of these walls can be confused with Lara Dutta’s love nest: Lime Green Walls.
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Most of Riteish’s scenes are really funny. Here is a man who doesn’t have to talk, doesn’t have to emote, doesn’t have to even budge. He just has to be, and we laugh.
Vivek Oberoi is way too boring to merit a discussion.
A drastic improvement in Aftab. Unlike before he does not irritate without reason, has perfect comic timing, utilizes his loud expressions favorably, and what’s more he does not even have food particles sticking under his lower lip (Don’t believe me? Then go watch Hungama again carefully)
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There is also some baarati band-baja masquerading as music in this movie.
The smutty dialogues are the ones which give Masti its madness. Given its genre of a sex-comedy, Masti drags in many parts, but is overall serviceable. The jokes and gags though funny, had they come in a more rat-a-tat speed and had they been a bit more original would have elevated the movie much more.
Go catch Masti with your friends, while I go and dream yet again of Lara Dutta ‘On the Roof, In The Rain’
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