Housefull 5

The death of an ageing billionaire (Ranjeet) on his luxury cruise brings chaos to the lives of those aboard the ship. His will names his son ‘Jolly’, as an heir to his property. Chaos turns into frenzy when three Jollys (Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh) show up to claim the wealth. If the plot wasn’t crowded enough, there’s a masked killer on the loose and everyone’s a suspect. Who’s the killer and who’s the real Jolly? Housefull franchise‘s existence is rooted in slapstick comedy, so you walk in knowing what to expect. Akshay Kumar slapping CGI monkeys, girls blatantly objectified and Riteish Deshmukh gobbling a parrot as annoying as the one in ‘Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon’, don’t surprise you. You snigger at lines like ‘Thokte raho……. Taaliya’, ‘mera popat kabhi nahi uthega’, but overlook the cringe because that’s what the brand is all about. What surprises you is the utter lack of humour, even dirty humour if we may say so in the script and sheer wastage of a zillion actors who are known for their comic timing.

For multiple reasons, it is difficult to write about a film like Housefull 5. The first and the most simple reason is that it is not a film. This is a string of perverse jokes, lewd gags, lame dialogues and loud decibels that play out in a loop over a mostly tortuous 166 minutes. Second, the makers are delusional enough to think this is a film, because of which they have released two versions — ‘A’ and ‘B’ — both of which have the same beginning and middle but different endings. Having endured almost three hours of Housefull A — with no intention of watching Housefull B, even if held at gunpoint — I can safely say that even if 20 more versions of Housefull 5 are released, each of them will be unwatchable.

The setting is lavish. But murders aboard a cruise are not novel. Nor is the mystery over who’s Jolly, the true successor of a dead billionaire. In this case, 100-year-old birthday boy Ranjeet (played by villain Ranjeet) who’s succumbed to a heart attack. As the trailer suggests, Jalabuddin alias Jolly (Riteish Deshmukh), Jalbhushan alias Jolly (Abhishek A Bachchan) and Julius alias Jolly (Akshay Kumar) turn up, each claiming to be the real inheritor. An Amar, Akbar, Anthony trio, in case you’ve missed the point. Producer Sajid Nadiadwala who credits himself with the story and screenplay with help from Farhad Samji for screenplay and dialogue, attempts Priyadarshan style mayhem. The doctor aboard (Akashdeep Sabir) who can test their DNAs and find the real Jolly is killed. A couple of crew members who are suspect are also bumped off.