Again?! Phir Hera Pheri! ...up to no good..again!
Indian cinema caught on to the fever of sequels and the season of sequels is here! Slated for release still are Krrish the sequal to Koi Mil Gaya and Dhoom II. But the first to reach the finish line PHIR Hera Pheri, the sequel to Hera Pheri.
Catch the memorable characters of Baburao, Shyam, and Raju brewing up trouble for themselves, yet again!
If you haven’t seen Hera Pheri, don’t worry, Nana Patekar’s voice over in the beginning of the film takes you through a quick overview of the characters. So, not having seen it you won’t be lost, but you did miss out on a good comedy!
Phir Hera Pheri shockingly is not directed by original director, Priyadarshan, of Hera Pheri. It’s in fact directed by Neeraj Vora who in the past has worked on many scripts with Priyadarshan. Still Vora is quite familiar with comedy owning penmanship for the screenplays of Garam Masala, Hulchul, Awara Paagal Deewana, and many others, including the original Hera Pheri.
But I’m sure the million-dollar question is, “Is it just as good as Hera Pheri”?
Well to be honest, the first is the first, that experience isn’t so comparable. Its script was far more gripping, and while this isn’t an equivalent, Phir Hera Pheri will give you laughs phir se!
Again, you have the unbeatable combination of Paresh Rawal, Suniel Shetty, and Akshay Kumar. They are the same fun characters they were in the first one. On their end they disappoint to no end where their performances are concerned. Paresh Rawal is immaculate. The perfect Baburao, twice the fun as last time. Suniel Shetty is the placid element between the colorful characters of Baburao and Raju. Subtly is definitely his forefront. Akshay Kumar shines. In the 3 lead starrer, he continues to be the right choice for stirring trouble.
Adding flavor are Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Sharat Saxena, Suresh Menon, Manoj Joshi, and Razzaq Khan, who all prove to be excellent additions. Miland Gunaji looks a bit misplaced.
Though you forget seeing them in the movie, I won’t forget to mention the female leads enacted by Rimi Sen and Bipasha Basu. With absolutely no scope, they walk through their roles without a purpose. Rimi still makes half an ounce of effort, but Bipasha does’nt look appeased by her role one bit.
The characterizations remain strong, but the script itself is on the weaker side. The dialogues carry the right amount of punches, but its truly contingent on audiences to decide if they’ll let loose with their laughter or remain poker-faced.
Comedy is really a personal choice. What one person finds funny may not have the slightest bit of humor to another. Gaging the laug-o-meter in theatres, most people seemed to be in uncontrollable splits of laughter. The few that found the buffoonery to be senseless, remained disinterested.
Himmesh Reshammiya’s music is strictly OK. The punjabi “Yaad Sataye Teri” is hummable. The pace of the film is slow towards the second half. The climatic portion in the end is literally a ridiculous animal chase! The conclusion is predictable and even annoying, leaving a bad taste in the mouth.
Phir Hera Pheri will leave some people in splits of laughter and others with a splitting headache. However overall given audience appeal, cast, and performances the film fares as an easy-going, jovial, watch, but for Ritu and her people, it’s only a 2 star film.