The King of Slapstick is back
The King of Slapstick David Dhawan is back . He was the one who started it all ,years ago with his madcap vulgar comedies that made no sense , yet it made the people laugh . The whole genre of ‘leave your brains at home Hindi Movie comedies’ was started by him . He has churned out hits after hits in that genre . But frankly none of his movies can be described as classics , he settles for the average category all the time . His new movie Do Not Disturb is also senseless , full of double meanings , madcap comedy , but the problem is it does make you laugh .
Mr CopyCat .
David Dhawan is one of the biggest copycat filmmakers of the country , none of his films are original . His movies give you a perfect hindsight into what is Mr Dhawan is watching & his recent movies shows that Mr Dhawan DVd library has gone for a drastic change . In his earlier movies he copied plots of south Indian hits or rehashed old Hindi movie plots – Hero No1 (Bawarchi) , So as a result his treatment to those movies were also tacky . But he must have realized audiences taste are changing , so his source of copy has changed as well . Now his recent movies are copied from Hollywood straight from L.A. . So you had Anger Management inspired (yes that’s the word that filmmakers in Hindi cinema use for every illegal copy) Mujhse Shaadi Karoge & a shamlessly scene by scene , even in some cases picking up similar sets , rip-off of Hitch called Partner . But after a few legal notices Mr Dhawan has realized that Holywood is not safe , so he has move on to other foreign avenues like France .
Yes his new movie Do Not Disturb is said to be a copy of a French movie . Though I haven’t seen that movie , But looking at his filmography which has museum of Inspired stuff , you just have to believe that . But you can’t blame Dhawan alone when you have credible filmmakers copying foreign movies in Blue & Black .
The Editor , Not the Director
Dhawan is not really a great director , but he definitely is one of the best editors . Once he has the idea from a Hollywood movie ready , he then starts improvising with scenes taking idea from others , creating punchlines & amalgamating all of it in the editing table to make a crisp fast paced movie that can make you laugh .
This is perhaps one reason why his story looks so fragmented with songs coming in & out of the movie for no apparent reason . In Do Not Disturb too , there is hardly a fixed screenplay , just scenes that make you laugh , songs you want to dance too , full of double meaning dialogues .
Shaadi Karke Phass karkee yaar
Infidelity in Marriage & marriage seems to be Mr Dhawan favorite topic to make us laugh .Is there a autobiographical element to it , I don’t know .He has made several movies that have the similar topic & characters , Sajan Chale sasural started it all & he has not stopped still – Biwi No 1 , Shaadi No 1 , Maine Pyar Kyu Kiya & many more such flicks on similar topics . If Underworld is Ramu’s constant topic of filmmaking then Infidelity is Mr Dhawan s forte for comedy
Do Not Disturb too is about a two timer who ends up having to tell a number of lies in order to save himself from his wife’s wrath . The film has shades of Biwi No 1 & Sajan Chale Sasural apart from the French movie , of course .
The King Of Double Meanings has another U/A
‘Sarkhaiyilo Khatiya Jara Lage’ this song was the start of the double meanings & vulgar dialogues in Dhawan movies . He continued with the trend in other movies as well . Partner had the most insanely vulgar climax ever seen .
Do Not Disturb too has that in plenty , lots of double meaning dialogues & scenes giving vulgar hints . If by any chance you want to take the kid to the movie forget it & go to a children park instead oops sorry even that is not safe as many uncensored things happen there as well , remain at home , let the kid watch cartoon , you go & see the movie .
But this brings forward the question is a kid can’t watch for all the adult stuff then why certify U/A to it & A certificate to a Fashion or Kaminey , Are the censors listening or sleeping ?
The Actors Director
With the absence of a fixed plot & childish punch lines , Dhawan’s movies of late have become in desperate need of good actors without which the film falls flat . Shaadi No 1 just had a superb Sharman Joshi with a group of really bad actors & a disinterested Dutt , so the movie tanked . The same was the case in Maine Pyar Kyu Kiya where we had the superb Warsi & Rajpal in guest appearances , while the full fledged roles were given to incompetent actors which made the film boring .
In Sharp contrast we had Govinda & Akshay in superb form , almost swallowing Salman Khan , providing enough laughs to even the most juvenile jokes to make them one of Dhawan’s best movies .
In Do Not Disturb too Dhawan is lucky to have two leads who have got awesome comic timing . While Govinda hams it up with peculiar voice change overs & shows that he needs a Dhawan movie to showcases his full skills . Frankly a role like this suits him & his age as Instead of the Casanova who can sleep with any girl roles kind of roles that we saw in Life Partner or the Yuppy English Mouthing teenage old man ( can’t call him young can we) that we saw in the forgettable Money Hai To Honey Hai . Here as opposed to his earliers movies he gets the timing just right .
But the Film belongs to Deshmukh who matches Govinda & even betters him in the comic timing department . He also brings a sense of restraint acting in all scenes where he has to ham .
The difference of comic talent in the ladies is evident when in one scene you have Ritesh & Govinda accompanied by Lara or Sushmita . When the ladies opens their mouth the audience stops laughing. It is not what te two men say that people laugh , it is how they say it that make people laugh . There is also Rajpal yadav who brings in the humour with his physical comedy as also Ali Asgar in a cameo. Dhawan is lucky to have a great ensemble cast who can make anybody laugh to save this movie .
You Just Can’t hate a Dhawan Comedy
Inspite of the fact that you want to hate Dhawan’s movies for being copies , senseless you just cant do it as his movies make you laugh . He takes you on a laughaton trip which you simply cant resist . I know exactly what to expect in a Dhawan movie so my main agenda is to have fun & laugh while I m watching his movie , any nonsense is allowed ..
Thankfully Do Not Disturb doesn’t disappoint . The combo Of Retesh & Govinda make you go crazy with laughter . Peppy music also helps making you go wild wanting to dance , something that is so inherent to David’s films& you don’t mind their sudden & unnecessary intervention in the plot if they are fun in nature . Do Not Disturb also happens to be his most polished products technically as the film looks very beautiful as well
Now Dhawan is certainly become the master of Slapstick , Having imbibed new aged style to his movies to lure in the youngsters with all the competition in the genre far behind , Priyadrashan still makes 90’s kind of movies which are too loud , Anees Bazmee makes crap movies that hardly make you laugh & newer lot like are more keen on churning out money making proposals than really funny movies
The Problem Of Sub Characters
Sub characters like Ranvir Shorey & Sohail Khan are a major problem in Do Not Disturb as in trying to give a justifying end to their characters , Dhawan loses the plot & ends up with a boring last 15 minutes which irritates you . For a man who is an intelligent editor& knows how much is enough to make a pacy movie is a disappointment . The climax devalues the entire fun in the initial 2 hrs so .
In all Do Not Disturb is not great cinema , But a 2 hour joke fest that makes you laugh ., I had a blast .
2 ½ / 5
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
“But frankly none of his movies can be described as classics, he settles for the average category all the time.”
What would Deewana Mastana qualify as? I would even add Jodi # 1 and Haseena Maan Jaayegi to that!
What the fuck is Sushmita doing here? Seriously!BTW, Not that I intent to see this film but nice review.
It has an extremely wafer thin plot but still works due to the casting.Govinda and Riteish were more than adequate.I somehow liked Lara as well.Rajpal Yadav was in his element and it was a pleasure to see Ali Asgar too having a blast.But I dont know why Raja Bundela was wasted in a bit of a role ( the guy who keeps getting slapped by Sohail Khan ).Certainly a time pass movie all right.
mujhse shaadi karogi had little of anger management, but it was a frame to frame copy of a tamil movie named Kabaddi Kabaddi !!!
and this is one of the worst David – Govinda movies I had ever watched . and you call all that comedy??? made me squirm in my seat !
This is certainly David Dhawans weakest.
Except the govinda’s Dolly Dolly Dolly jig, nothing tickled me. And I guess the decibel level of the characters is increasing with every of DDs films. This film managed to be irritiating rather than just a bore, thanks to the ear splitting comedy and the slap punctuated scenes. And DD is the man who designed a hilarious climax out of our heroes slapping the villians!!!! This is not the DD I love
Partner clicked at the BO which resulted in DKD. I hope DKD doesn’t click or else
no doubt…this one is david dhawan’s weakest…tho one thing i would admit..i couldn’t understand a bit of this article what he actually wantd to say….but one thing…i would definitely appreciate…with such an ease and without taking name(actually once) you insulted…one of the khans of khan trio!!…dude…get a life…tho i would agree…DKD is worst film of DAVID DHAWAN (but he still remains my favourite director) or may be this year….
And regarding the statment…on movie being classic…Cmon..his swarg, Judwaa, Biwi No.1 , Hassena man jayegi still remains best comedy made in india!!!
thanks Tejas i agree with you , his films can never be termed as classics . they are average movies
thanks Neeraj ,
ur views are spot on ,sethu . Had there been lesser actors in the leads the film would have bombed badly .
Thanks cool didnt know that about MSK & the main idea behind a comedy is to make u laugh , i had a good time so i liked it , u didnt , so u didnt like it . Everybody is enetitled to his/her opinions .
Govind , reviewing this movie allowed me a platform where i can point out what i feel abt DD’s movies . What i like about his movies & what i don’t . so i wrote it the way u have seen .
As for Insulting someone , that was not my intention , i just wanted to be honest instead of being Diplomatic . you have yousrelf mention ed dude that my thoughts are right . So whats wrong in sayin so dude .
i never called this movie a classic , but it was fun for sure
Sorry but it seems my disagreement came across as an agreement. What I meant to say was that Deewana Mastana IS a classic.
WTF! dude can i have a list of movies you like??
Sarkhiylo khatiya is not the first double meaning song .
rather “daiyaa ra daiyaa 0- char gayi papi bicchoa” ( madhumati)
saat saheliya ( Viddhataa) – are the old papis.