Producer Sajid Nadiadwala’s Housefull series is going a step lower with each film. The first two films were quite good. The third one was average but watchable while the fourth one turned out to be bad and offensive. However, if you felt the franchise couldn’t stoop any lower, the makers throw in a rude surprise in the form of Housefull 5.
This one is not just the worst film of the franchise but also one of the most ridiculous films of the decade. So much so that it falls into the same league as the producer’s last film Sikandar.
Housefull 5 takes place entirely on a cruise in the UK. The seventh richest person of the country Ranjeet Dobriyal (Ranjeet) has thrown a party on the cruise to celebrate his 100th birthday. His staff includes the board of directors of his company, Maya (Chitrangda Singh), Bedi (Dino Morea) and Shiraz (Shreyas Talpade), along with cruise officer Batuk Patel (Johnny Lever) and Aakhri Pasta (Chunky Pandey). Dev, Ranjeet’s son from his second wife, is also present on the cruise.
However, just before the birthday party, Ranjeet passes away. As per his will, his 69-million-dollar fortune is to be handed over to his son from his previous marriage called Jolly. The next day three people – Jalabuddin (Riteish Deshmukh), Jalbhushan (Abhishek A Bachchan) and Julius (Akshay Kumar) – arrive at the cruise with their respective partners claiming to be Jolly. Just then, a murder takes place and the suspicion falls on one of the three Jollys.
Housefull 5 has an interesting premise of a murder mystery where it is believed that one of the three people claiming to be Ranjeet’s son is the culprit. But the story is narrated in a way that makes you give cringe reactions throughout its huge duration of 165 minutes.
The film touted to be a ‘family comedy’ has cheap and crass situations and dialogues thrown in as humour on a regular basis. The whole parrot sequence is enough to put you off. But even if you somehow keep that incident aside (which is difficult), the narrative still doesn’t stop at regularly coming up with some of the most juvenile ways to make the you laugh.
Housefull 5 also has a murder investigation angle. Even by the standards of mainstream Hindi cinema’s most mindless films, it is shocking to see the absolute absurdity of it.
The music is as absurd as the content with ‘Laal Pari’ adding onto the irritation. The technical aspects like cinematography and editing are difficult to describe when your entire concern is to survive through the film.
A few performances are the only plus points (just about). Akshay Kumar once again succeeds in a comic role. Jackie Shroff and Sanjay Dutt display good chemistry. Nana Patekar also chips in with a mature act (but you wonder what is he doing here). The rest of the actors, which are plenty, are nothing worth mentioning. The female cast is only used for objectification.
The makers have released two versions of the film with two different killers and named them Housefull 5A and Housefull 5B (I saw the former). But frankly, even before the interval, I lost all interest in knowing the identity of the culprit. So, there is no question of me watching the other version to know who the other killer is because that would result in my murder and there will be no mystery around it.
Rating: 1.5 out of 5
Director: Tarun Mansukhani
Producers: Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment
Writers: Sajid Nadiadwala, Tarun Mansukhani and Farhad Samji
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, Fardeen Khan, Chitrangda Singh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sonam Bajwa, Nargis Fakhri, Jackie Shroff, Sanjay Dutt, Johnny Lever
Also Read: Criminal Justice (Season 4): A Family Matter review: Interesting murder mystery plus courtroom drama
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