Film:	De Dana Dan
Directed By:	Priyadarshan
Dialogue:	Jay Master
Cinematographer:	K Ahambaram
Editor:	Arun Kumar
Music:	Pritam
Sound:	Rishi Oberoi
Cast:	Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Paresh Rawal, Suneil Shetty, Neha Dhupia, Chunkey Pandey, Aditi Govitrikar, Archana Puran Singh, Asrani, Vikram Gokhale, Tinu Anand, Sameera Reddy, Supriya Karnik, Rajpal Yadav, Sharat Saxena, Himani Shivpuri, Manoj Joshi, Johnny Lever, Manoj Joshi

 

 

 

 

De Dana Dan is one of those rare films where you can fall asleep even while the huge line-up of actors keep on performing their gags and screaming at the top of their voices. Yes it is that boring, and at more than two and half hours of length, it feels torturously long and definitely not worth the few laughs that you will be rewarded with.

Nitin Bankar (Akshay Kumar) is chauffeur-cum-cook-cum-slave to rich and cruel lady (Archana Puran Singh) who has forced him into bonded labour and even refuses to buy him a new uniform. Never mind how he finds time to woo pretty lady with one expression (Katrina Kaif), whose Dad (Tinu Anand) will not have Nitin for a son-in-law. Dad would rather marry off daughter to Chunkey Pandey, a rich conman Chadda’s (Paresh Rawal) son. Chunkey Pandey of course looks older than Rawal but we’ll let that pass. Nitin’s friend Ram (Suneil Shetty) is in a similar predicament of poor-boy-loves-rich-girl variety and even his lady love’s (Sameera Reddy) Dad plans to marry her off to Chadda Jr. (Chunkey Pandey). Nitin and Ram decide that the only way they can solve their problems is to take to crime and the plan is to kidnap rich and cruel lady’s beloved dog Moolchandji.  The dog is kidnapped but escapes, yet all is not lost for the friends as it is now believed that Nitin is the kidnapped one and community pressure makes rich and cruel lady agree to pay ransom. However, no one cares much to follow up on this as the entire cast lands up in a plush Singapore hotel, where Chadda Jr.’s wedding is to be.

In the hotel, many misunderstandings ensue and a lot of wrong doors are often knocked on / opened / entered. Apart from our two kidnapper friends, we have in the hotel the two girlfriends, the wedding guests, an assailant (Lever), a call girl (Neha Dhupia), a quirky waiter (Rajpal Yadav), a lecherous Shakti Kapoor, Chadda’s young wife (Aditi Gowitrikar), etc, etc… Perhaps this sounds like a promising set-up for a laughathon, but the film actually feels like a tedious watch, and much like the recent Do Knot Disturb, similarly set in a hotel in the second half.

The stars are what they always are like – Akshay acts with the conviction that he is very funny, Suneil sincerely tries to make a comeback, and Katrina smiles. Paresh Rawal and Archana are LOUD, but Vikram Gokhale (as the Indian Ambassador who’s a wedding guest), Tinnu Anand, Lever and Rajpal Yadav are sometimes funny. Neha Dhupia is nice in one dance number. The music is sometimes zingy, not always.

There is never any doubt as to whom Priyadarshan is trying to woo and the way women are shot, the way boobs are pushed up / almost out – of whatever some actresses are wearing – is quite crass and not even necessary for the hare-brained enterprise. The climax, with people endlessly running around and then swimming / floating through a Titanic inspired deluge is tedious. The good thing about a climax is that the film gets over after that.  

Rating: * One star out of five  

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