What is it with Priyadarshan and inane comedies? The director churns them out as if on an assembly-line. Add an Akshay Kumar here, and a Paresh Rawal there, and a hit South Indian script -- and voila, there's another Priyan hit.
This time, even as the director's Malamaal Weekly gets ready to release, he decides to persist with Kareena Kapoor (Hulchul, Kyon Ki), add her real-life boyfriend Shahid Kapoor, and compensate for Neha Dhupia's blink-and-miss appearance in Garam Masala by giving her some dialogues.
Which, for Chup Chup Ke, is saying a lot, considering Kareena plays a mute girl and Shahid pretends to be one. Read on to find out what's up in this comedy of errors.
Shahid plays Jeetu, a good-for-nothing young man who has had enough of his family and fiancee (Sushma Reddy). Goaded by their constant disapproval, Jeetu decides to commit suicide -- at least they can benefit from his life insurance.
With typical melodrama, Jeetu plunges into the sea -- only to be rescued by a pair of fishermen, played by Priyan's finest comics, Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav. For some reason, they assume Jeetu is a millionaire.
Jeetu decides to keep his mouth shut. Literally. Instead of uttering a word, he pretends to be a deaf and mute guy.
But this isn't the smartest plan, and the grounds for severe misunderstandings are obvious when he meets Shruti (Kareena Kapoor), who happens to actually be a mute, though not deaf.
Her ultra-possessive elder brother Mangal (Suniel Shetty) has been trying to marry her off, but the engagement has been called off.
Dhupia plays Shruti's cousin, Meenakshi. When the two girls discover Jeetu is an impostor after a night of drunken revelry, Meenakshi becomes a vital character - the only one in the know able to break the sensational news.
The two girls like Jeetu, and decide to conceal his secret, until circumstances force Meenakshi to believe that all Jeetu's motives are based on money.
This results in an announcement, and Jeetu being beaten up by the cops.
Mangal, chancing upon Shruti and Jeetu together, chases him, wanting to compell the fraud to marry his sister.
And yes, Jeetu and Shruti are in love. But things aren't as simple as all that, with a web of multiple lies carefully trapping them at every turn.
Confused? So are we, but the Hungama director might just be able to pull off this puzzle of a plot.
Chup Chup Ke is scheduled to release on April 28.
Sports
Kumkum Bhagya
14