Housefull 3

Director: Sajid-Farhad

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Lisa Haydon, Boman Irani

Here comes the third installment in the Housefull franchise.

An Indian businessman Batuk Patel (Boman Irani) has built an empire in London. His daughters – lovingly named Ganga, Jamuna and Saraswati (played by Jacqueline Fernandez, Lisa Haydon and Nargis Fakhri) – want to marry Sandy, Bunty and Teddy (Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bahchchan and Riteish Deshmukh), who are as broke as they can be. The problem is Patel doesn’t want his daughters to get married at all.

But this premise is hardly the interesting part of the movie. It’s the dialogues.

Building on the earlier two films in the franchise, also written by Sajid-Farhad, Housefull 3 serves rambunctiously funny one-liners from the beginning, and sets a comfortable ground for the actors to tread. Using literal translations of the ‘cool’ lingo – Chalo bahar latakte hain (Let’s hang out),Thandi waali dawa le lo (Take a chill pill) – there’s plenty that tickles.

Then there’s Akshay’s split personality act – Sandy and Soondy who take cue from Edward Norton’s Fightclub.

Though Housefull 3 does lack some of the crackling energy from the previous film, it’s Kumar who keeps the momentum going.

New to the madhouse, Abhishek Bachchan eases into play with a little hand-holding from Kumar and Deshmukh. Coupled with some self-deprecating humour spun on members of his famous family, he brings his own brand of funny.

Just a reminder here: Abhishek has worked with Sajid-Farhad before in Bol Bachchan. So, the funny style isn’t new to Junior Bachchan.

Then there’s more to the literal jokes as the movie goes on: When Jacqueline talk about staying away from the limelight, we’re told, “Nimbu ki raushani se door raho”. Or when Nargis begins a story saying, “Lambi ghadi ke peeche” instead of long time ago, we laugh.

Sadly though, these lines stick out a little oddly and don’t go with the flow.

The other blip in the script is its plot repetition.

At 145 minutes, the directors have produced a comedy that skips along, but it’s Akshay Kumar who saves the day. The other actors could’ve been better utilised.