Rascals that drain pockets in the name of comedy. Review on Rascals

There are many types of films. Films that make you cry, films that make you laugh, and films that make you cringe. Very rarely does a film come along that makes you ask – why the heck did I watch this film in the first place? Unfortunately, Rascalslies in this category. Maybe it was David Dhawan. Maybe it was Ajay Devgn. It doesn’t matter that the film was a blatant rip off of Dirty Rotten Scoundrelsbut the fact of the matter is that David Dhawan does manage to get laughs out of me. He did so in Partnerand even in his rather pathetic attempt Do Knot Disturbhe could get a few chuckles going. But with Rascals,David Dhawan has hit rock bottom. I just did not laugh throughout the whole film. Not even a half chuckle. And that’s saying something. For a comedy film not to make the audience laugh, it’s a cruel irony.

Plot:

The film’s opening credits are actually its best bit. If you tend to leave after the opening credits, you will have made a decent investment. The film begins with the animated escapades of our two lead protagonists – Chetan Chauhan (Sanjay Dutt) and Bhagat Bhosle (Ajay Devgn). The whole animation sequence was very well done. It traces their cons from childhood – in the nursery, stealing the nurse’s locket to stealing luxury cars by disguising as valets. The title track playing in the background really gels well and it actually gets your spirits up for the film.

But it all goes downhill from there. Anthony (Arjun Rampal), a gangster who has maternal issues gets conned by Chetan (who steals his car) and Bhagat (who steals his briefcase full of 30 lakhs cash) separately. Anthony cries ‘Mummy’ and looks towards his mother to get him out of this mess. Meanwhile, Chetan and Bhagat meet each other on a flight to Bangkok, wherein Bhagat boasts about his exploits to Chetan. Chetan, in turn steals Bhagat’s identity and lives in the hotel booked by Bhagat assuming Bhagat’s identity. Bhagat starts thinking of a way to get back at Chetan when – enter Khushi (Kangana Ranaut) whose penchant for wearing less clothing is only trumped by her even lesser intelligence quotient.

That is when we cue in the plot of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.The film basically follows the track of the English film albeit minor changes. Chetan decides to con Khushi because of her supposed wealth and appears to her in the form of a social worker who is learned in the ‘art of giving’. However, Bhagat appears as a blind man and tries to spoil Chetan’s efforts and then both of them start competing for Khushi’s affections with every touch of Khushi causing great heartburn to the other and an even greater headache for the viewer. Throw in a slimy Chunky Pandey as the manager who is paid by Bhagat to keep an eye on Chetan and his activities but Chunky’s loyalties lie with someone else. Satish Kaushik also makes a brief appearance and his motives too are revealed in the end. Arjun Rampal makes a reappearance in the climax, wherein, to our supposed surprise, the real identity of Khushi is revealed. If you have seen Dirty Rotten Scoundrelsyou know who really gets conned. Here, the director makes a slight change to show that Chetan and Bhagat do triumph in a way. How can you have a Hindi film where the protagonists lose eh?

The music of the film was its biggest selling point. All the songs were just amazing. I wouldn’t say great choreography, but definitely well picturised. All the songs were wonderfull foot tapping numbers. If India had a stronger nightclub scene, all DJ’s would be playing the Rascalssoundtrack for sure. Excellent work Vishal – Shekhar. The tunes were melodious and addictive in an annoying way when you have the tune stuck in your head. If a song can do that, you know you’ve got a great chartbuster on your hands. If there is an album I would recommend to buy for all the songs – because all songs were equally strong, its this one. There is no greater lyrical meaning in the songs. But sometimes we need to let go of deeper meaning and just enjoy the good old dance numbers. And Rascalsdoes have plenty of them.

However, I have nothing positive to say about the film except for the music. My advice would be if you can somehow listen to all the songs and just see the opening credits, Rascalswould definitely be one of the best experiences you’ve had this year. But if you actually have to sit through the film, you will want to forget that you ever decided to come in the theatre door. Most gags rely on wordplay and sexual innuendos and I’m not against that, except that the problem is they are not funny! Some examples – batting mein Raina aur Anthony ka haath daina (Raina in batting and Anthony’s right hand in hitting – incomparable). Ghadi mein Rado, gaadi mein Prado aur serial mein Naa Aana is des Laado. (Watch Rado, car Prado and serial Naa Aana is Des Laado – incomparable). Aap mujhe haath do, main aapko baccha doonga (If you accept my hand in marriage, I’ll give you a kid in return). I didn’t find any of these lines funny. Perhaps maybe the scene at the bar where both Ajay and Sanjay pay homage to their past roles from previous films was well done and got a laugh. That’s it. The pun on writer Chetan Bhagat fell flat too. And how ridiculous is this – “woh ‘con’ thi” (as in who was she – woh kaun thi and she was a conwoman).

The problem with Rascalsis that there is nothing that holds your attention – except perhaps a few lustful moments of Lisa Haydon in Shake it Saiyaan. Both Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn lack comic timing together and are better off when they are solo than when they are sharing the screen together. It’s a real shame for Sanjay because his partnership with Govinda really worked – Haseena Maan Jayegi, Jodi No.1 and Ek aur Ek Gyaarah.Here he looks bloated and haggard and his age really shows. This also makes him romancing Kangana or at least attempts to do so look cringe worthy. Also, watching him in Shake it Saiyaan with a semi naked Lisa Haydon was much more funnier than the entire gags of the movie put together because you could not only see the mismatch of age but also how uncomfortable both of them looked when they had to shoot sequences of the song where he had to be close to Lisa.

Cast:

Sanjay Dutt fails miserably and so does Kangana. Not only does Kangana’s high pitched dumb act appear incredibly annoying, it’s also hard to decipher what she is saying most of the time because of the incredibly high pitched dialogue delivery which gave me a head spin very soon. There is a gag in film which recognises that Kangana sounds like a squealing dog whose tail has been stepped upon. I couldn’t agree more. Ajay Devgn has a lot more presence. Considering he basically reprised the gags done by Steve Martin (except that Martin was a paraplegic in that film and Ajay plays a blind man), Ajay managed to put new life into the role. Arjun Rampal was passable as the gangster though the characterisation of a motherly dependency for a gangster was indeed mildly funny. But he doesn’t have enough screen time. About five minutes in the beginning and then return in the climax. Lisa Haydon managed to look hot and I guess that was “the demand of the script” as people put it these days and she does fulfil that. Shake it Saiyaangets the lust buds going indeed. But she has nothing else to do than be the item girl so I have nothing to say about her acting skills, because frankly, she wasn’t asked to act.

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