Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tamannaah, Sonu Sood, Krushna, Prakash Raj,Johny Lever, Mithoon Chakroborty and Junior (The Golden Retriver)

Direction: Sajid-Farhad

Rating: 1.5 stars

Well soon after seeing the initial trailers of Sajjid-Farhad's latest cine pleasantry "Entertainment" many of you would have recalled Einstein's words stating, "Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity... and I am not so sure about the universe". But as they say human instinct and creativity have no boundary, and so seems to be the case with intellectual modality of our Bollywooders, who don't mind getting inspired even from the weirdest cine idea loitering under this sky.

Ages back when German Countess Karlotta Lieberstein made her beloved German Shephard mutt, Gunther 3 the heir of her $372 million empire, probably at that time no one would have imagined that some day this benevolence of the Countess may also turn into a source of inspiration for some Bollywood cine literati, but it does. Although Sajid-Farhad's 'Entertainment' is not even remotely associated with Karlotta Lieberstein, but the cine idea flowing underneath the movie up-till great extent resembles countess' act.


Though idea of coming up with a cine fable based on animal-human camaraderie in not something new to Bollywood. Take the case of "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Teri Meharbaniya", "Aankhein", Jatiner and Jaya Pradha starrer 'Maa' or the recently released "Ye Hai Bakrapur". Well this is for the first time that some Industrivalaa have tried to attempt a canine-comedy and after proving the mettle of their writing skills, dialogue writer turned director duo, Sajid and Farhad showed the valor of stepping in this unexplored genre of movie making.

Contrary to expectations this canine-comedy starring Khiladi Kumar Akshay, Tamannah Bhatia, Prakash Raaj, Sonu Sood, Johny Lever, Mithoon Chakraborty and at last but not the least Junior (The Golden Retriever mutt) succeeded in securing a good occupancy at its release. And why not? Because after seeing the writing dexterity of Sajid and Farhad in cine yarns like "Golmaal 2", "Golmaal Returns", "Bol Bachchan", "Housefull 2" and superb comic timing of Akshay in his previous cine delights, there remains no reason for anyone to skip "Entertainment". So does the charisma of Akki and Sajid Farhad succeeded in charming the fans this time, come let's find out.

Premise of "Entertainment" narrates the story of a struggling middle class guy, Akhil Lokhande (Akshay Kumar) who takes up weird jobs to make both ends meet. One fine day he has a tryst with unexpected, where he get to know that he is the son of a Bangkok based diamond merchant, Pannaa Lal Johri (Dalip Tahil) who betrayed his mother. With frames rolling ahead Akhil tells his buddy Jugnu (Krushnaa Abhishek) about his DNA (Daddy's Najayaz Aulad) status, but soon after the duo get to know that Panna Lal Johri has passed away.

Least bit disappointed with the demise of his real father, Akhil lands in Bangkok to claim his father's property worth Rs 3000 Cr. But on reaching there Akhil gets the shock of his life, when Panna Lal Johri's attorney Barkatullah (Johny Lever) inform him that Panna Lal has made his beloved Golden Retriever, Entertainment the heir of his empire. On hearing this Akhil's glittering dreams come down shattering and he starts conspiring about killing the canine. So does Akhil succeeds in his motive? To know you have to watch this man-pooch comedy of Sajid-Farhad.


Well as far as premise of 'Entertainment' is concerned then certainly it is something out of the box where the storyteller, Sajid-Farhad along with K. Subhash have tried to mark the beginning of an altogether new kind of movie making and that too while keeping the plot simple. But this high degree of candor in no manner makes "Entertainment" an entertaining delight. And that's because after charming the the masses for initial few minutes, the monotonous slapstick humor which so far had been the strength of Sajid-Farhad's writing turns into an albatross hung around viewers' neck.

I won't be making any mention of logic here because that is last thing which viewers look for in such movies, but I must make mention here that soon after the onset of the movie it's the monotony which takes the front seat and start conking your intellect. Although by hurling satires on all the stodgy things pertaining to showbiz including small-screen like "Hamari Ekta Humein Shobha Nahi Deti" the writing trio of the movie have tried to braid many "LOL" moments in the movie (which up till some extent succeed in tickling the funny bones of some of the viewers), but for others they turn out to be obtruded swag of monotony which they have bear because they have spent their hard money on the ticket window.

So despite having a thorough regard for Sajid and Farhad's writing prowess, it gives me sense of compunction in saying that with "Entertainment", it's the high degree of monotony and repetitiveness prevailing in the story-line, which adversely impacts the over-all appeal of the movie. Preposterous to Sajid and Farhad's widely adored writing styles at the power of which the duo fetched accolades for "Golmal" and "Bol Bachchan", this time the duo fails in leaving any pleasing impact.

As mentioned above (that with an animal at the core of the whole premise) story idea of "Entertainment" is thoroughly novel, but it's the high dose of tedium and replication which plays spoil-sport and besides what further adds to the devastation is loosely stitched shabby screenplay lacking that "spontaneity-element" which is a must have for this kinds of cine enterprises, so nothing much to praise about Sajid Farhad and Manoj Soni's screenplay and cinematography. And that's because while being on the back of camera they failed in maintaining the proportionate equilibrium of various cine condiment. DoP of Vinod Guruji is impressive and uptill great extent captures the beatuy of Thai milieu with brilliance.


If we leave 'Johny Johny' and " Veere Di" songs then music of Sachin and Jigar is slightly above average, but lacks recall value.

As far as performances are concerned then there are just three things which are praiseworthy in "Entertainment" and they are Akshay Kumar, The Golden Retriever Junior and their onscreen camaraderie. Just like any other Akshay Kumar starrer even here from commencement till culmination it's Akshay who seems to be at his performing best and puts in his hardest efforts to pull the film, and up-till great extent succeeds in doing so. So tons of kudos for this magnificent performer who often lands on the receiving because of the wrong choices and shortcomings of others involved in the movie making process.

After her last few cine outings this time Tamannah seems to have improved a lot on the acting front. Krushnaa Abhishek as usual fails in coming out of his stand-up comedian persona and thoroughly boosts the melodramatic coefficient. Rest of the supporting cast comprising of Johny Lever, Mithoon Chakroborty, Prakash Raj, Sonu Sood remain underutilized but in-spite of that succeeds in doing justice to their respective parts. But the real hero of this whole cine enterprise is, Junior aka Entertainment who looks simply lovable while performing all his canine antics.


To sum up, probably after garnering tons of accolades for their writing adroitness, Sajid and Farhad would have thought that nothing else except a canine comedy could be a better launch pad for their directorial debut. But unfortunately they forgot that comedy is a serious business, and mere repetitive spoofing never succeeds in satiating viewers' quench for entertainment. So on the whole despite having the backing of Sajid and Farhad's writing and Akshay's stupendous comic timing "Entertainment" fails in doing what viewers expected from it. So keeping the honest and praiseworthy performance of Akshay I am going ahead with one and a half star out of five for this perfect piece of misleading christening, which would have been a paid torture of a sort had Akshay not been there to lead the front.