Desi Boyz: Time To Party

Continuing on with the theme of Bollywood reviews, here’s one for one of my favourite movies in recent years. The movie stars some of my favourite actors and is a really good comedy, better by far than some of the others that the two lead actors have done previously. Great songs, great story, great everything, and directed by the son of one of my favourite comedy directors of the last couple decades. This movie pretty much had it all.

Akshay Kumar’s comedies can often be a little hit and miss, especially in recent years, but this one is definitely a hit for me. It has a good subject matter despite some wonky stuff in the second half, but that’s not such a big deal really. Here’s why.

So here’s another Bollywood movie review for you folks out there. Desi Boyz (Indian Boys) is another fairly recent release and just like with Rockstar, I thoroughly enjoyed this as well.

Rohit Dhawan is the son of the legendary director David Dhawan who is one of Bollywood’s most prolific and successful directors and has given superb hits like Aankhen (Eyes) and Partner and the “No. 1″ series of unrelated films starring one of India’s best comedy actors, Govinda. With this, his debut film, I think Rohit definitely lives up to his dad’s on-going legacy and proves that he is here to stay and will come back with all guns blazing.

The best thing about Desi Boyz is the comic timing of the male leads and the chemistry between them and their leading ladies. We see Akshay Kumar being paired with Chitrangda Singh for the first time, and the same for John Abraham and Deepika Padukone.

Akshay, as always, whether he is doing an action movie or a comedy, always delivers a great performance. I am a longtime fan of his and he is right up there as one of my favourite actors to watch on screen. Desi Boyz is just another feather in his cap in my opinion, all the haters be damned. There is actually a very serious lack of nice, easy feel-good movies in Bollywood at the moment and with Akshay at the helm, Desi Boyz definitely bucks that sad trend.

With Akshay being the experienced comedian among the film’s star cast, John has gone on record to say that he benefited from Akshay’s guidance and experience and it is very much apparent in the film. John is usually a far more serious actor with only the occasional comedy thrown in to break the monotony. So seeing him in a more comedic role was a fair treat to watch.

With Deepika Padukone, her performance is a touch too formulaic. She doesn’t get enough screen-time sadly and therefore not much of a chance to shine consequently but she does deliver a good performance regardless. Not as good as her debut movie Om Shanti Om, Housefull (another film with Akshay) or Break Ke Baad but still an enjoyable one. She should definitely look out for films with strong female roles so she can get the right opportunity to display her talents.

Chitrangda Singh, while not a newcomer, has done precious few films and has received mix reviews over all. In Deso Boyz her role is not a prominent one and she gets even less screen-time than Deepika. But, she still manages to sizzle as the sexy and sultry economics professor to Akshay’s returning-to-college-student. However, she does alright for herself given the limitations on her character and it would have been great to have seen her in a bigger role for sure. She is a very confident and comfortable actor and that definitely comes across in her performance. This was her first film that I’ve seen and I look forward to more from her.

Moving on to the plot of the movie, Desi Boyz is set in London as the United Kingdom experiences a rather fatal economic recession. The two male leads, one a white collar jobber and the other one flitting from job to job get laid off early on in the movie and now with the hard-hitting recession are struggling to find good jobs. Enter Sanjay Dutt, another Bollywood great, in his cameo as Boss, the owner of a male escort service in London called Desi Boyz. Boss recruits the out-of-work Jerry (Akshay) and Nick (John), gives them new identities as Rocco (Akshay) and Hunter (John) and sets them to work. The rest of the film is about the two male leads navigating this new job while they try to get Nick married off to the love of his life, Radhika (Deepika) and find a way for Jerry to keep custody of his orphaned nephew Veer. Along the way Jerry will meet Tanya (Chitrangda) who helps him change his life around.

Overall, it is a very enjoyable movie, one of the proper feel-good types that are plain fun to watch on the screen. I have definitely not laughed this hard in a movie in quite a while so Desi Boyz gets major plus points for that. Akshay and John’s duo definitely delivers the comic element quite well in their first pairing together and it is a treat to watch. Comedy is something that Akshay excels at and John looks like he is well on his way to going the same route as well. There are some silly scenes in the movie, like the court sequence towards the end which is downright nonsensical at times. But hey, it doesn’t break the immersion of the movie at all. It might be unrealistic and typically OTT masala, but this is a feel-good Bollywood comedy, so that is to be expected. Plus the movie has been directed by the great David Dhawan’s son so this is to be expected. It is all artfully done, as is the norm in current Bollywood movies so all good.

The music, as befits a movie of the “Dhawan clan”, is fast and peppy with tunes you can dance your heart out to. My favourites among the lot are “Subha Hone Na De” (Let it not be Morning) and “Make Some Noise For The Desi Boyz”. Its definitely the type of music you can listen to all day long and I actually have so there you go. It is all typically Bollywood which means that it, quite simply, rocks.

The various locations in and around London are also portrayed nicely. They establish the story’s setting well enough without being overbearing or tedious. Some common filming locations such London Eye are of course shown but such scenes don’t come at the expense of the plot itself. Which is as it should be.

Just like with Rockstar, Desi Boyz has an irresistible entertainment value, doubly so for being such a great comedy and I would recommend it all you folks. If you get a chance, do watch it! You will not be disappointed.

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