Phir Hera Pheri

6.5/10
Sequel to the masterpiece ‘Hera Pheri (2000)’ the cast is mainly the same, out go a few like Taboo, Gulshan Grover, Asrani and in comes Johnny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Bipasha and Rimi Sen. The chemistry between the three Akshay Kumar (Raju), Suniel Shetty (Shyam)and Paresh Rawal (Baburao) is still there, the plot is good in parts, reminds you of ‘Snatch’ and ‘Lock Stock and 2 smoking barrels’ but sadly as a whole the movie fails to live up to the expectation. But don’t let that discourage you from seeing it. See it for the pure brilliance of one man, Akshay Kumar, he almost single-handedly carries the film. The scene between Akshay and Rajpal Yadav, where Rajpal Yadav gets interested in his money doubling scheme is hilarious. A few jokes have been repeated, like the one when all 3 are fighting and Taboo walks in (here it is Rimi Sen), and baburao is missing his dhoti. The villains add their comic touch too and with Johnny Lever and Rajpal Yadav around, the director succeeds largely in keeping the movie moving along. The songs are good especially the ones from Himesh Reshammiya ‘Yaad Sataye Teri' and 'Ae Meri Zohrajabeen'. Towards the end, it looks like the movie was completed in the absence of a director as it lacks continuity, songs appear from nowhere, and it almost appears like the movie has ended and you are being shown the bad shots like in Jackie chain movies. Suniel Shetty is a lot dumber here, maybe its just age or he is maybe playing himself, baburao crosses the line of sanity too often and one wonders how Raju and Shyam keep up with him, even his sense of humour is very loud and hardly funny, sad to see this, especially as he had done so well in the first part. Well anyway if you have loved the first part, it’s difficult to resist seeing the sequel, see it for Akshay Kumar alone and you would be happy. For me Rimi was there too.