It shouldn’t have been released on the day that the nation was attempting to come to terms with the death penalty given to the four accused in the December 16 gang rape case in Delhi.
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Aftab Shivdasani, Riteish Deshmukh, Sonalee Kulkarni, Bruna Abdullah, Manjari Phadnis, Kainaat Arora, Karishma Tanna and Maryam Zakaria
Director: Indra Kumar
Rating: Zero
Grand Masti is one of those films that should never have been made. And even if it was to be made, it shouldn’t have been released on the day that the nation was attempting to come to terms with the death penalty given to the four accused in the December 16 gang rape case in Delhi.
While the filmmakers of this painfully atrocious film said that ‘adult comedy’ can be enjoyed by adults in a humorous environment, the sheer extent of this film’s sexism is appalling. The entire crux of what the film would have us believe is a plot based on notions of viewing the woman as a sexual object, to be seen and enjoyed – exactly the mindset of entitlement that leads to cases of rape in the first place (And no number of death penalties can lead to a change in this attitude)
The film is the sequel of the 2004 film, Masti. In the opening scene of the new film Ritesh Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi and Aftab Shivdasani are in college and are teaching young, impressionable students about how to enjoy life. They start simply with the alphabet. The letter A is supplemented with a close up shot of women’s buttocks clad in exceptionally skimpy outfits, B leads to a similar shot of women’s chest. This opening scene lays the foundation for the rest of the film and apart from the cheap, sleazy alleged humor in the film, there isn’t much else.
The four, after marriage, find themselves predictably horny but stuck in sexless married lives. Upon receiving an invitation from their college (Shree Lalchand University of Technology and Science, yes, S.L.U.T.S), the four decide that this is their opportunity to gratify their ‘sexual needs’.
The director seems to believe that the yawning gap left open by the non-existence of a plot could be filled up by overloading the audience with sleazy and bad jokes. Take for instance the fact that the girls that our heroes are chasing are “Rosy, Mary and Marlow”, who are obviously referred to in the film as “Roz meri mar lo”.
Apart from the unapologetic sexism in this film, there is little else. Heaving bosoms, tight shots of women in hot pants are juxtaposed with sleazy dialogues. The humor itself is forced and doesn’t do much for the audience. In fact, this has been a problem with adult comedies in the film. They seem to believe that odd motley of forced cheap humor and sleaze would somehow lead to a successful film.
Honestly, no one expected the film to be anything else. Sophistication or intelligence weren’t expected, though some subtlety would have been nice. This film is a lesson in how not to make an adult comedy. Film makers should really realize that unadulterated lechery is not equal to adulthood.
