De Dana Dan Movie Review: It's Like a Merry Go round Ride

Priyadarshan reunites with his 'Hera Pheri' cast but can't quite capture the madness of that iconic comic caper. Actually, it would be unfair to even compare the two movies, because De Dana Dan is much more than just about the presence of Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. This film has a much larger cast and a very loose plot which is ridden with the old comic clich? of mistaken identities. Everybody seems to be after everybody and it's like a merry go round which just doesn't stop till one is dizzy trying to make sense of what is happening. There is lot of confusion and chaos, and some of it is genuinely funny, but not all of it. The end result is film which seems to get most of the grammar right but loses a bit on the flavour side. Of course the laughs come but not as frequently as one would have expected.

We have our two protagonists, (Nitin Bankar)Akshay and Suniel (Ram Mishra), who are down and out financially but have made the mistake of falling in love with daughters of rich men. Akshay is a paid slave to the middleaged owner of a mall, played by Archana Puran Singh, while Shetty works for a courier company. Being totally broke, they decide to hatch a plan whereby they can become rich overnight and marry the girls of their choice. The plan is to kidnap the mall owner's dog and demand a huge ransom. But everything goes wrong and the dog manages to escape. In the confusion that happens, the cops assume that Nitin has been kidnapped and the mall owner is pressured to pay up the ransom to rescue him from the clutches of the kidnappers.

On the other side, Katrina, who is Nitin's ladylove is engaged to be married to Chunkey Pandey's character, whose father, a conman, played brilliantly by Paresh Rawal but the engagement is broken when Paresh Rawal finds a richer family to marry his son into so that he can get more dowry which will help him pay off his debts. Rawal is being hunted down by the cops as ten of his cheques have bounced. Sharat Saxena plays the cop who has made it his mission to nab Rawal.

Meanwhile Chunky's marriage is now fixed with Sameera Reddy, Ram's ladylove. The venue for the wedding has been fixed at the a five star in Singapore and the entire cast of characters lands up at the hotel, leading to a lot of confusion. Among the cast of characters which lands up at the hotel are a gunman, played by Johnny Lever, a Chinese mafia don, played by Asrani, a lecherous rich man played by Shakti Kapoor who is there for a rendezvous with Neha Dhupia's character, Paresh Rawal's wife (Aditi Gowitrikar)'s young lover (Vihaan Choudhary), all of who are aided and abetted by the hotel attendant, played by Rajpal Yadav. Confusion reigns supreme as cases of mistaken identity keep increasing till the final climax. Just when Nitin and Ram think that all is over for them, fate plays its cards and they manage to get their hand on the huge ransom money they had demanded of the mall owner.

One has to admire the manner in which Priyadarshan structures his plot which is like a noose which keeps tightening, trapping the cast of players. Everybody character and incident is wonderfully connected or related to the other character, thereby forming a perfect chain of events, which get a fresh twist with every connection. He has his formula down pat and in a manner of speaking, De Dana Dan is copybook example of how to write a farcical comedy. The film has pace and fresh twists at every corner. But it is not really as funny as one would have expected it to be.

Most of the cast of players put in a genuine performance but in some places the comedy just does not come out, as the actors are reduced to shouting at each other. Akshay and Suniel certainly share a very good screen chemistry and it comes out very well in this film as two frustrated friends, who keep threatening to commit suicide. One can't say the same about the girls, Katrina and Sameera, who have little to do in scheme of things. Paresh Rawal is good as the Punjabi conman, even though he is not in the best of forms. The trio is well supported by Rajpal Yadav, who really manages to make the most of his character and overshines most of the veterans on the scene. This actor is a scene stealer and so is Johnny Lever as the hitman. Asrani and Shakti Kapoor are competent and so is Archana Puran Singh. The rest of the cast is quite supportive and chips in with good performances.

The music of this movie, which has been composed by Pritam is just about okay. It never seems to draw attention itself. In fact, the 'Paisa' song seems forced into the narrative as it adds no value to the movie. The production values are good and Priyadarshan reveals his hold over the comic medium. He makes a movie which is funny, but there just seems to be too much happening in the movie, which takes away from the story of Bankar and Mishra. A little less confusion or maybe a fewer twists may have made it a tad more enjoyable.