Housefull 5

The more the merrier’ goes the saying. In the case of Housefull 5, a comedy franchise that refuses to end, it’s more the painful. The parrot shtick returns and it’s still agonisingly bad and unfunny. So is the gag with Akshay Kumar and monkeys indulging in a slapfest. The most distasteful bits though are when women’s bodies are fetishised upon—again and again—for cheap jokes. Again more embarrassing than rib-tickling. This time the gang of ludicrous men is on a cruise and there’s a killer on the loose. It’s dressed up in a silver Squid Game-like mask and has the slasher skills of the Scream killer. That alone, it appears, is reason enough to give the fifth instalment of Housefull a blood-soaked scary font. But Sajid Nadiadwala, who here apart from producer also gets story and screenplay credit, forgets the killer for significant chunks of this comedy, which runs far too long. The plot’s to do with who’s the real Jolly, the heir to a throne of billions. Is it Akshay Kumar’s Julius, Riteish Deshmukh’s Jallabuddin or Abhishek Bachchan’s Jalbhushan? The three men come aboard with their partners (Nargis Fakhri, Jacqueline Fernandez and Sonam Bajwa) in tow. It doesn’t take too long before there’s infidelity and lying and some old-fashioned tomfoolery.

Fifteen years after the first Housefull movie hit screens in 2010, Housefull 5 arrives with the usual bluster and baloney—big stars, bigger sets, and a plot that makes no sense. In an unusual twist, the climax and the revelation of the killer aboard a luxury cruise liner differ depending on which version of director Tarun Mansukhani’s slapstick comedy you’re watching. But no matter which route you take, the destination remains the same: this film is a colossal waste of time and resources. This fifth instalment of the famously chaotic comedy franchise is louder, glossier, and stacked with an even larger ensemble. You might struggle to name or remember the female characters, but the men are hard to miss. Franchise regulars like Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Chunky Panday (as Aakhri Pasta), Johnny Lever (Batuk Patel), and Ranjeet return, joined by new entrants Fardeen Khan, Jackie Shroff, Nana Patekar, Abhishek Bachchan (previously in Housefull 3), and Sanjay Dutt.

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.

There is something innately awkward about enjoying Akshay Kumar doing comedy. The feeling is similar to reading old scrapbooks and being amused at an earlier version of oneself. Or, meeting someone from the past with thorny opinions and enjoying their company briefly. To enjoy Akshay Kumar doing comedy is to reckon with his problematic brand of humour and appreciate his genius of making even the most worn-out jokes fun. If there is a conundrum here, it is only exemplified in his latest, Housefull 5, a film version of the actor’s absurd hilarity. Nothing about Housefull 5 looked good. The film has 19 actors, an ensemble so off-kilter that it can convince anyone about the dearth of employment in Bollywood. Written by Farhad Samji and Tarun Mansukhani, the thriller comedy has two endings (5A and 5B) in an economy when makers are struggling to end one film well. And, more crucially, it is an extension of a franchise that has a history of mining humor at the expense of every living being except men.

In a bid to cash in on the goodwill around the frat-boy comedy, writer-producer Sajid Nadiadwala, this time, lines his boisterous drollery with a layer of mystery in the vacation season. Set on a luxury cruise ship, where a billionaire (Ranjeet) dies and a doctor is silenced, it literally spirals into a search for the Jolly on the high seas. By the end, we encounter multiple claimants, but none pass muster. Sajid has once again put together a galaxy of stars of different wattage, but in the absence of a supple string of wisecracks, the flash of wit loses its lustre. He draws from Todd Phillips’s The Hangover, where temporary memory loss generates unintended chaos, but the way it plays out, Housefull 5 remains a hollow play of words. The gags outlive their welcome, and the political incorrectness and situational humour that are the hallmarks of the franchise no longer organically fit into the narrative.

Housefull 5 is the type of film that could drive a teetotaller to drink. Even though I saw Housefull 5A as opposed to 5B, I am certain the outcome would be the same. If you are curious about the distinction between A and B, it refers to the same film but with an alternate ending.