Kathmandu :

Chup Chup Ke (Comedy)

Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Neha Dupia, Sushma Reddy, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Om Puri, Suniel Shetty

Direction: Priyadarshan

Showing at Biswajyoti Cinema

Silly isn’t always funny! We’ve had enough of it forced down our throats and we almost did never complain even when we tried to laugh over the goofy gags for its naivete rather than inventiveness. No more of this binge for it now makes us nauseous.

Since every bit of this shoddy comedy reminds us of the wishy-washy comedies we half-heartedly chortled over, it’s high time that Bollywood, at least, put some new face forward. And Priyadarshan, the mish-mash of all the myriads of masala flicks ain’t going to turn this year into an annus mirabilis.

Since this brouhaha comes from one of the finest funsters, you wait to see what this prodigy of a director has up his sleeve. Sure, it comes in the form of Shahid Kapoor but then there’s nothing more to it other than a deluge of disillusionment and disappointment. The director even throws in a maudlin melo-drama to whip up the crackpot comedy and woo the masses. But not only that the gags don’t work but almost nothing does. Not even Paresh Rawal, with his penchant for the penultimate.

And you’re captivated for a three-hour farce that relentlessly recapitulates clips from almost every recent money-spinner in Bollywood.

Here we have the down and out Jeetu (Shahid), who attempts suicide so that his family can claim the insurance and rid themselves of the debt they’re drowned in. But, fishermen Gundya (Paresh) and Bandya (Rajpal), thwart his plans to dupe the insurance

company and instead rescue him with the hope that he might turn into a messiah to redeem them in return. Gundya himself is debt ridden and owes money to Prabhat Singh (Om Puri) and therefore baits him before he can settle the debts. Redemption comes in the name of Shruti (Kareena), the daughter of the wealthy Prabhat, who instantly falls in love with Jeetu.

But that’s not the end of travesty as we have Pooja (Sushma Reddy), Jeetu’s childhood sweetheart, who waits for her beau as a widow to shed tears in the quintessential love triangle and the struggle for sacrifices to follow.

This one lacks even an iota of slapstick that Priyadarshan has dished out before. Even the songs by Himmesh Reshmiya lack flavour that you’d savour. It’s wise if you leave this one for what Priyadarshan calls masses.