麻豆社

Director Indra Kumar is mildly back on form with Dhamaal, a madcap comedy about a group of friends (headed by Arshad Warsi) who stumble across a dying man who assigns them a mission that could lead to riches. When the group divide, each after a bigger cut of the fortune, it's left to you to decide whether the journey is worthwhile. What should be a hugely fun excursion ends up being a battle to stay seated.

Adi (Warsi), Roy (Riteish Deshmukh), Manav (Javed Jaffrey) and Boman (Aashish Chawdhary) are best mates, who also happen to be small-time con men. These four idiots stumble on their big break when a dying man entrusts to them a fortune that will change their lives forever. To get it, they will have to travel to sunny Goa, looking for a great big 'W'. Greed, as always, gets in the way of friendship and the group part ways. To add to the confusion, one Inspector Kabir, (Sanjay Dutt) is also on the trail of the cash. A marathon, gag-filled chase across the country inevitably ensues.

"PRETENSIOUSLY SILLY SLAPSTICK"

While in the first half the comedy engine fires on all cylinders, the fuel seems to run out towards the end. Pretentiously silly slapstick isn't enough to secure empathy for the motley gang. And while the cast is stellar (especially Asrani and Jaffrey), this film runs out of steam before the race is over.

In Hindi with English subtitles.

Dhamaal (Bedlam!) is out in the UK on 7th Sept 2007.