Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Tamannah Bhatia, Bipasha Basu, Esha Gupta

Direction: Sajid Khan

Duration: 2 hours 39 minutes

Genre: Comedy

Rating : 1/2 star

In an Indian movie what else can be better than a double dose of entertainment dabbled in treacle of fun and humor blended with a pinch of comedy of error and confusion, probably nothing. And it's been many eons since we are seeing such movies (where protagonists played multiple roles) rocking at the BO.

Be it the era when Sanjeev Kumaar starrer "Naya Din Nayi Raat", where Sanjeev played nine characters depicting nine different shades of life, or be it the era when movies like "Sita Aur Geeta", "Ram Aur Shyaam" arrived on the big screen and turned into cult classics. Or be it the age of 80s or 90s when "Chaalbaaz" and "Judwa" charmed the cineasts, every-time the movies featuring the lead actor/ actresses in double role not only enthralled the fans, but also emerged as the gems of Indian cine history. But as they say that a same key doesn't fit in every lock, so seems to be the the case with Sajid's recently released "Humshakals" where he has tried to gamble with the triple roles of three onscreen protagonists i.e. Saif, Ritesh, and Ram Kapoor.

This directorial venture of Sajid, after his last BO disaster "Himmatwala" featuring Saif, Ritesh, Ram Kapoor, Bipasha Bhatia and Tamannah Bhatia surprisingly opened with a jam packed occupancy of 100 percent.


Plot of "Humshakals" the self proclaimed fun ride narrates the story of a business tycoon lad, Ashok Singhania (Saif Ali Khan) whose maternal-uncle Kunwar Amar Nath Singh aka KANS (Ram Kapoor) wants to seize his empire and in order to make his objective a success, he along with a doctor, Ali (Nawab Shah) hatches a conspiracy of giving a drug to make Ashok loose his sanity. But as the frames roll ahead a larger picture comes forth showcasing the existence of identical duplicates of the Ashok and his friend Kumar (Ritesh Deshmukh).

And things get from bad to worst when Ashok and Kumar land in a mental asylum as the asylum authorities mistake, Ashok and Kumar as their insane counterparts and put them behind the bars. On the other hand out side the asylum it's KANS who is busy in making all the efforts to succeed in his aim. So does Ashok and Kumar succeed in coming out of the asylum and saving former's empire, or is it Kunwar Amar Nath Singh who has the last laugh to know watch this atrocious cine offering of Sajid.


As far as story of "Humshakals" is concerned then all I would like to point out is that, it's always praiseworthy to experiment with the genres and it's always preferable to modulate the content of some tried and tested cine ideas. But at the same it is also highly advisable to not create a cinematic buffoonery by following ones over-enthusiastic gut. But as far as Sajid is concerned then one can never gauge the extent of his intellectual weirdness.

Earlier it was "Himmatwala" now it's "Humshakals" where by abiding to his intellectual cine stubbornness the man has once again penned down something excessively tormenting for the cine enthusiasts. Throughout his promotional stint Sajid vouched about "Humshakals" being an out and out laughter riot, but after witnessing the end product where Sajid has attempted to blend a pinch of thrill with a bucket of bland humor, one just end up feeling duped. And frankly speaking whatever flavors Sajid has mixed in this cine curry has literally added to the melodrama and pungency of this rot cine curry.


After seeing the screenplay and of "Humshakals" one may start doubting that is it really, Sajid who has movies like "Houseful" and "Hey Baby", in his kitty. And that's because despite having cinematicians like Robin Bhatt and Akarsh Khuranna along with him, he has miserably failed in crafting something picture-perfect to suite the taste buds of the audience. Be it the humor or that mild thrill coefficient, everything pertaining to "Humshakals" looks like a potpourri of confusions where think-tanks of the movie have just poured in their cinematic-petals and have forgotten to stir them in order to have a delightful fragrant end product.

In the absence of organized script and well planned execution even cinematographer Ravi Yadav fails in shouldering the sinking vessel called "Humshakals". As far as editing of Bunty Nagi is concerned then probably the man was in a state of confusion and dilemma about what to cut and what to leave, because through its run time the movie is consistently pathetic and leaves no scope for the editor to be laudable about any particular set of sequences.


Music of Himesh Reshamiya comprising of average aural delights like "Caller Tune","Piya Ke Bazaar Mein, "Hum Pagal Nahi Hai" strictly passble.

Just a few days back a controversy erupted between dusky dame Bipasha and Sajid, and reports which made the headlines suggested that it's Bipasha's annoyance about the subliminal quality of end product because of which the former has preferred to stay away from the movie's promotion, and alas! the dusky beauty was absolutely right. Because there is no denying the fact that just like penning down a shabby and haywire script and performing a super chaotic execution, Sajid has failed in even extracting best out of his protagonists and supporting cast too. Be it Saif, Ritesh or Ram none of them succeeded in embracing the spirit of their respective characters ( in all three avatars) and rather look like guinea pigs possessed by Sajid's cine fanaticism, where latter never apprised them about expressiveness they need to have in order to authenticate their respective characters.


Although Ritesh up-till some extent looks quite natural, but his other better halves Saif and Ram looked more of like "mannequins in motion". As far as girl's brigade comprising of Bipasha, Esha and Tamannah is concerned then none of them get much scope to perform, and subsequently they end up being mere glamorous showpieces in this painful cine enterprise.

Even the supporting cast comprising of Satish Shah, Akash Khuranna, Darshan Jariwal, Suresh Menon and Nawab Shah didn't ditch their ilk and remain below average throughout the run-time, obviously because of ill- defined characters and haywire screenplay.


To sum up, after seeing this another atrocious cine offering of Sajid where everything was haywire it looks like after traumatizing the viewers with "Himmatwala" the man never felt contended and in order to satiate his cine stubbornness he once again returned to cine aisles with a humdrum cine enterprise called "Humshakals", which does nothing except bestowing atrocities on the viewers. So for this sinful cine cantata of Sajid, I am going ahead with half a star out of 5. And one should watch it at one's own risk or at-least have a sedative in his or her pocket while watching it.