Yamla Pagla Deewana 2

Starring: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor, Johnny Lever, Sucheta Khanna, Neha Sharma and Kristina Akheeva
Directed by Sangeeth Sivan
Rating: **

The promo of Yamla Pagla Deewana Part 2 held immense promise for me, what with Dharmendra unconsciously and effortlessly pronouncing “antar aatma” as “antr aatma”. Then there was a rather balmy two-minute Maggi noodle and the birth of twins gag. And so I hoped the Deols will merrily mock and spoof themselves in the continuing saga of two conmen and their goody-goody NRI son/brother. Alas, not. In the film these two moments get lost in a sea of inanity. In fact, in between the perennial yawns of boredom you hardly even notice when they come and go away. What you do notice, however, are the following: a total and unconditional celebration of Salman Khan; the strange, furry brows of Neha Sharma and her constant pouting in the name of acting; the pretty but ungainly Kristina Akheeva and an elegant iPad, with a ghastly orange cover, in the “dhaai ton ka haath” of the forever sanctimonious and smug (when not shouting, of course) Sunny Deol. Bobby gets a lot of footage and ends up making more (un)funny faces than the actor playing the fake ape. The one good thing about the prequel—TV artiste Sucheta Khanna as ‘Caneda’ expert village belle—is also reduced to ridiculousness in the company of a ham of a Johnny Lever. Needless to say, the veterans—Dharmendra, Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor—get a raw deal. But didn’t they read the writing on the wall, aka the script? Not once did I smile, let alone laugh out loud in this ‘comedy’.