Rascals - Reviews + Collections Update

Film: 'Rascals'; Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Kangana Ranaut, Lisa Haydon andArjun Rampal; Director: David Dhawan; Rating: *1/2

At some point in this pointless parody of all of David Dhawan's Tom and Jerry comedies from the past, Devgn and Dutt, playing a pair of warring, snaping, snarling, sneering con-persons, call for each other. 'Chetan? Bhagat? Chetan? Bhagat? ...'

In that pause between the last blast and the next you know the script writer (Yunuz Sajawal) is thinking of how to carry the plot to the next gag.

Wish they had actually roped in author Chetan Bhagat to write some of the episodes. We would at least be looking at more than just an endless raunchy wordy ramble into the realm of toned bikini bodies. And these include the two leading ladies Kangna Ranaut and the striking Lisa Haydon.

In fact the film looks like one long excuse to let the camera ogle at semi-nude female figures in Thailand and Bangkok. The laughter, if it was ever intended, is strictly incidental.

The gags in 'Rascals' are so stale and tasteless and the situational comedy so devoid of any kind of originality or freshness, you wonder if David Dhawan just made this unfunny comedy to please his friends who play the major roles in the film.

As Chetan and Bhagat, Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn get to ham to their hearts' content. Not their fault. It's the need of the hour. Make that two hours. Two long painful hours of mirthless gags and skits adding up to no sense of hilarity.

Kangna Ranaut is the funniest thing in the film. And not in any intended way.

But nothing matches up to the brazen insulting nature of the dialogues. At one point Chetan or Bhagat (hard to say which one speaks, as they're constantly interrupting and shouting down one another) look at a dark-skinned man and comment: 'How did this black gulab jamun get a white rashogolla for a daughter?'

Go get a laugh, Mr. Dhawan. The prolific and trendsetting director has clearly run out of tricks to make the Tom and Jerry act any further. And really, Anil Kapoor-Govinda in 'Deewana Mastana', Salman-Govinda in 'Partner' did the sniping and snarling, so much better.

The film is carpeted with dreadfully unfunny jokes that insult every community including, of course, the movie-going community which is expected to laugh at a scene where Sanjay Dutt puts on an unconscious woman's underwear on and wonders: 'Why is it so much easier to take off a woman's clothes than put it on?'

Really, Mr. Sanjay Chhel, what were you thinking when you wrote such embarrassing lines taken straight from the wall of a private toilet?

Any silver linings? Yes, Arjun Rampal. He's so cool and in control, you wonder what he is doing in such an uncool rudderless comedy. And poor Hiten Paintal. An actor with considerable comic timing, is stuck among actors who seem to be totally out of rhythm. Hiten is reduced to being Sanjay Dutt's sidekick.

Wanted urgently: A makeover for David Dhawan's brand of comedy. Seriously, this comedy is not funny.

Copyright IANS

Two conmen ' Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan ' try to prove their supremacy over each other while making fools of people they interact with. Read the full review of Rascals to find out more.

Business rating: 1.5/5 stars

Star cast: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Kangna Ranaut, Lisa Haydon, Chunky Panday, Satish Kaushik, Arjun Rampal.

What's Good: A few comic scenes; the 'Shake it saiyyan' song.

What's Bad: Lack of a cohesive story; hotch-potch screenplay; irritating dialogues.

Verdict: Rascals is a poor comedy which will fail to make its mark.

Loo break: Not really.

Watch or Not?: Watch Rascals if you can laugh at just about anything.

Sanjay Dutt Productions Pvt. Ltd. and Rupali Aum Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.'s Rascals (UA) is a comedy about two rascals ' Chetan Chouhan (Sanjay Dutt) and Bhagat Bhosale (Ajay Devgan). They meet in a chance encounter on a flight to Bangkok, unaware that both of them have, independently of each other, duped the same Anthony Gonsalves (Arjun Rampal in a friendly appearance) on the same day in India. Since both are conmen, their game of one-upmanship goes on in Bangkok. Bhagat has booked a room in a posh hotel of Bangkok, where he has decided to spend days and nights having fun with Dolly (Lisa Haydon). However, Chetan beats Bhagat to it and checks in into the hotel, impersonating Bhagat. Soon, Chetan and Bhagat meet Khushi (Kangna Ranaut) in the hotel and both of them try to woo her. Khushi sometimes gets very close to Chetan and at other times, to Bhagat. While Chetan fools Khushi by posing as an instructor of 'The art of giving', Bhagat pretends to be blind, having lost his eyesight while fighting in a war as a naval officer. All along, each of them keeps pouncing upon Khushi and weaning her away from the other in a bid to win her loyalty.

In one such game of one-upmanship, Chetan damages the brakes of Bhagat's motorcycle because of which the latter meets with an accident. Bhagat uses the opportunity to pretend that he has got his vision back, thanks to the accident. Not the one to give up easily, Chetan now plots to embarrass Bhagat in front of Khushi by getting him to attend a Navy Ball night in the hotel, where his fake identity of a naval officer would be exposed by the real naval officers. But Bhagat manages to save his skin there too.

Finally, Khushi announces her decision to marry both, Chetan and Bhagat. What happens thereafter? Do Chetan and Bhagat become friends? Who is Khushi in reality? What about Anthony Gonsalves whose briefcase containing cash had been stolen by Bhagat and whose imported car, by Chetan?

Rascals Review: Script Analysis

The film does not have a cohesive story and is rather an assemblage of comic scenes which seem to have been randomly thrown together. Yunus Sajawal's screenplay is poor in the absence of a solid plot. After all, it is difficult to keep the audience engaged for more than two hours merely on the strength of scenes which are otherwise unrelated but are sought to be related in a hotch-potch screenplay. While some comic scenes are funny and evoke laughter, there are others which fall flat. What's worse still is that the comedy is so loud and so underlined that the effort to make the viewer laugh shows more than the humour. Both, Chetan and Bhagat, pull and snatch Khushi from each other as if she were a sack, not a girl. In other words, even a blind girl would realise that something is amiss by sensing the sheer behaviour of the two guys. For, Chetan and Bhagat behave as if Khushi were the only girl on planet Earth. Even that would've been acceptable had the comedy been funny and evoking laughter but since many of the comic scenes fail to even get a smile on the viewer's face, leave alone elicit laughter, the overtly loud scenes get on the audience's nerves. Instances of comic scenes not having the desired effect on the audience are aplenty. For instance, the scene in which Chetan impersonates Bhagat on landing at the hotel in Bangkok; the scene in which Bhagat sees Chetan teaching Khushi yoga; the scene in which Chetan narrowly misses getting exposed at the Naval Ball; the scene in which Anthony Gonsalves and his mother brag about their capabilities; and many more. Even the revelations in the climax don't have the shock value they ought to have had. Dialogues, penned by Sanjay Chhel, are irritating most of the times because comedy is sought to be created by tukk-bandi (rhyming words, most of the time forced to create humour).

Rascals Review: Star Performances

Sanjay Dutt does an ordinary job. He looks too stocky to play the hero, that too, someone who is trying to woo a girl. Ajay Devgan tries his best to rise above the script but fails. He is fairly good. Kangna Ranaut plays the dumb damsel, as required. Lisa Haydon is alright. Satish Kaushik delivers an average performance. Chunky Panday acts ably. Arjun Rampal makes his presence felt in a friendly appearance. Hiten Paintal hardly gets any scope. Mushtaq Khan is okay. Bharti Achrekar passes muster.

Rascals Review: Direction & Music

David Dhawan's direction does precious little to lift the film from the level of mediocrity. His narration, in short, is disappointing. Vishal-Shekhar's music compositions seem to be a job hurriedly done. The 'Shake it saiyyan' song is a good number but the other songs are okay. The absence of hit music is sorely felt. Song picturisations (Bosco-Caesar) are ordinary. Lyrics, by Irshad Kamil and Anvita Dutt, are okay. Vikas Sivaraman's cinematography is fair. Stunts (Mahendra Verma) are functional. Editing (Nitin Rokade) is sharp. Production values are of a good standard.

Rascals Review: Komal Nahta's Verdict

On the whole, Rascals is not half as funny as is should've been. It will, therefore, fail to make its mark at the box-office and, in the process, entail losses to most of its distributors.

Rascals Trailer