For sheer entertainment
By MovieTalkies.com, 13 November 2006
2.5 / 5
This year has seen the release of many films which have catapulted Hindi films to the level of international cinema. Films like Rang De Basanti, Omkara, Lage Raho Munnabhai. Jaan-E-Mann and even to a certain extent Krrish and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna have reaffirmed that fact that great cinema can also be entertaining. However, the year has also witnessed many films which came no where near close to even good cinema and at the same time could not even entertain the audiences. At the same point in time, this year there have been films which were anything but good cinema and yet they had a certain quality to them which made them remarkably entertaining; Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal is a perfect example of this type of cinema. Make no mistake, Apna Sapna Money Money is not a case study of good cinema nor is it even as entertaining as Golmaal, and yet the sheer premise of the film, its characters and the hilarious situations which ensue make it an entertaining film.
The film’s title is slightly misleading in that not everyone’s ‘sapna’ is money. However, the events occur in a manner wherein all the lead characters’ dreams somehow get linked to money or rather to a stash of stolen diamonds. Carlos (Jackie Shroff) is an underworld king who sends his mole Sania (Celina Jaitley in surprisingly one of her best performances till date) to purchase some diamonds from a seller. However inspector Namdev (Suniel Shetty is an inconsequential role) is already on her tail and so instead of taking a flight from Goa to Mumbai, she hops on a train where she meets Kishan (a very versatile Ritesh Deshmukh) in one of his numerous disguises. With Namdev hot on her tail, she dumps the diamonds into Kishan’s back noting down the address and it is from here that multiple stories of mistaken identities, stolen diamonds and parallel love stories take over to create a chaotic, senseless, at times confusing, yet amusing plot.
Flaws are in abundance in terms of the screenplay and at times some of the antics do get on the audience’s nerves, especially Rajpal Yadav’s Sarkar act in the “tabela”. The double meaning jokes are at times a bit over the top especially the scene wherein Kishan (as Sania Aunty) is in a room with Pandit (Anupam Kher) trying on shoes while the people outside the door misinterpret the conversation. But there are some scenes which are genuinely funny like several portions where Kishan pretends to be Arjun’s (Shreyas Talpade) aunt. However the poor screenplay, the innumerable characters, the lack luster dialogues and weak performances by most of the cast (aside from Ritesh, Celina, Shreyas and Anupam Kher) leave the audiences wondering what Sivan was trying to achieve with this film especially considering that it is a Mukta Arts Production. In spite of all the minus points of this film, the plus point is that it is meant to be an entertainer for the ‘janta” audience and we are sure that this film will be loved by them and will even evoke whistles and cheering from the single screen front benchers.
Ritesh Deshmukh has been showing consistent improvement since his debut film Tujhe Meri Kasam, and his flair for comedy is very evident, a fact which his performance in Apna Sapna Money Money reiterates. It is nice to see Shreyas in a role outside the seriousness of Iqbal and ruralness of Dor and his look and dancing abilities in the music video come as quite a nice surprise. As his character is the most subtle and subdued of the wild lot, he underplays Arjun to the tee, but one wishes he would have had a more fleshed out character which gave scope to display his comic timing. Anupam Kher is as dependable as ever and he succeeds in toning down the vulgarity of several scenes without compromising on the humour. Celina Jaitley is the surprise package of the film; she gets into the skin of the character and even succeeds in evoking laughter which truly is a difficult feat considering the lack luster dialogues she is given. It seems after No Entry’s success, Celina has established a comfort level with the comic genre. Riya Sen is given minimal scope to perform, one is left wondering why Koena Mitra’s voice has been dubbed with a voice which does not suit her at all and the less said about the remaining performances the better.
Apna Sapna Money Money is not for those who are looking for good cinema or intelligent comedy; it’s for those who are looking for a paisa vasool, fun, thoughtless and at times even cheap comedy which entertains you and leaves you the moment you leave the cinema hall. Worth a watch just for sheer entertainment especially if you watch it at a single screen with a rowdy crowd.