In director Indra Kumar’s Double Dhamaal, the quartet of Ritesh Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Ashish Chowdhry and Javed Jaffrey often stand side by side and have their turns at cracking jokes from scene to scene. If Ritesh stole a few laughs in the previous scene (or at least attempted to), then the next one has Warsi or Jaffrey trying to tickle you. Still further, chal bhai Chowdhry, ab teri bari! And so goes on and on the menagerie of the madcaps, the tomfoolery of the twits. But if you revel in silly jokes, like the ones that has Warsi or Jaffrey trying to mimic Shatrughan or Shahrukh, then Double Dhamaal is your ticket to fun. If you don’t, this sequel is more of a dud than Dhamaal. Compared to Dhamaal, this one packs half the laughs.
So we have the eternal losers Roy (Ritesh), Adi (Arshad), Manav (Javed) and Boman (Chowdhry) still trying their get-rich-quick tricks and this time their target is Kabir Nayak (Sanjay Dutt), the copper of Dhamaal who’s now stinking rich, what with limousines, palatial bungalows and a siren Kamini (Mallika Sherawat) in tow. He’s also got a pretty sis Kiya (Kangana Ranaut).
Obviously, the quartet wants a fat piece of Kabir’s pie and they get into a business with him with the intention of duping him. But it’s Kabir who pulls a clever con job on the foursome, leaving them on the most wanted list of the tubby gangster Batabhai (Satish Kaushik).
The action shifts from Mumbai to Macau and we have the four friends assuming various guises to settle the score with Kabir and save their hides from Batabhai. Arshad Warsi turns into a jolly Sikh; Ashish Chowdhry into a bosom baring bombshell; Ritesh Deshmukh an African; Javed Jaffrey into something that beggars description.
Thankfully, the film moves beyond silly slapstick in its dying moments and does offer a few genuine chuckle-worthy moments. Otherwise, the humour is crammed with double-meaning dialogues with sexual undertones. A lot of Bollywood stars are mocked and there are parodies of films like Guzaarish, Peepli Live, Dhobi Ghat, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge and even Taare Zameen Par. Some gags work, some don’t.
Performances are intentionally over the top. Ritesh Deshmukh is horrible at mimicking Bollywood stars, but he does show his funny streak in a scene or two. Arshad Warsi and Ashish Chowdhry turn out to be the best of the four. They are particularly funny in their get-ups as a sardar and a siren. The ladies don’t have much to do except look pretty and add some oomph to the otherwise stag party that Double Dhamaal turns out to be. Sanjay Dutt hardly offers any hilarious moment. Satish Kaushik chips in good many laughs. You wish there was more of him in the film.
To sum it up, Double Dhamaal is for those who aren’t yet sated by the slapstick of Ready and Bheja Fry 2 and still itch for more screwball comedy.
-With apunkachoice.com input