Housefull 5 Review: Akshay Kumar and his clan deliver another laughless sequel and 'I am not joking'

The song "Laal Pari" is probably the only thing you’ll find yourself humming after watching this week's big Bollywood release Housefull 5. Akshay Kumar leads this no-brainer, which features a luxury yacht, pretty faces, beautiful women, and standout outfits.

For me, the beauty of this comedy franchise is that it never made any sense, yet I still enjoyed the first few parts - the characters, the dialogues. However, the fourth instalment - unarguably the most torturous one, which we got almost six years ago (remember Bala, Bala?), is still the worst. That said, compared to part 4, this one is quite passable.

Plot? What does that even mean?

When it comes to writing about the Housefull 5 plot, a five-minute silence, please. Hmmm... so the story starts with a murder. Cut! We see a luxury yacht in the deep blue sea. Cut again! We’re introduced to the soul of the franchise, actor Ranjeet, playing business tycoon Ranjeet Dobriyal, a lusty and perverted old man, celebrating his 100th birthday. Unfortunately, he dies, leaving behind a will that goes to his mysterious son Jolly, owner of billions of pounds.

Next, we see three Jollys- one is Akshay Kumar, the second is Riteish Deshmukh, and the third is Abhishek Bachchan. Three jolly arrive with three gorgeous ladies - Jacqueline Fernandez, Sonam Bajwa and Nargis Fakhri.

While everyone is busy finding who is the real Jolly is, they have another thing to handle - a murder. So, now the story shifts to find out who the killer is? And, then the plot sticks to this.

Where is the fun?

Directed by Tarun Mansukhani, who has co-written the script with Farhad Samji, this movie has a house full of stars, roaming here and there, all dressed up for a fancy dress party. The case with this movie is that I didn't feel anything, I did not laugh hard, only smiled. Looked at fellow members of the audience, wondered if they felt the same as I, and then watched the movie in between.

When it comes to the plot, I felt it was written after watching many Hollywood films. Cut, copy, change a bit and tadaaa!, we have a story of the movie starring prominent names of Bollywood. The film comes at a time when Bollywood is going through a tough period, with the audience being least interested in stepping into the theatres. And when they do, they get movies like Housefull 5.

Are stars enough to save the film?

The movie is heavy on stars. Led by Akshay, the film has Riteish, Abhishek, Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff, Dino Morea, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nargis Fakhri, Chitrangada Singh, Sonam Bajwa, Soundarya Sharma, Chunky Pandey, Nikitin Dheer and Johnny Lever.Yet none of them are able to salvage this film.

Are these stars enough?

When it comes to comedy, Akshay and Johnny Lever do their job well. Their comic timing, expressions, and actions manage to make even the cringiest scenes entertaining. Same with Riteish, who has played such roles in too many films now and is comfortable in this genre. However, the others - Jackie Shroff, Abhishek Bachchan, and Sanjay Dutt - are reduced to caricatures. I honestly don’t know what fun they had playing these roles.

Watch it or skip it?

The Housefull franchise has always demanded to be watched without using one's brain. I had so many issues with the movie. But, when you bring together a huge team of actors, creatives, writers, and directors, and give them all the best resources, the result should be at least a passable film. This film is not an out-and-out comedy, but a disappointment in this genre.

The movie has been released in two versions - Part A and Part B. I watched Part A.

Still from the movie Photograph: ()

Shroff and Dutt's cartoonish performance in the movie was heartbreaking. Also, I missed the ladies as they didn't have much role, except looking fantastic, dressing outstanding, but barely spoke.

Is vulgarity the new comedy?

By vulgarity, I mean the double-meaning, crass dialogues, the one-liners that fail to deliver genuine laughs. A few scenes in the movie were not funny at all, and the women were all hypersexualised. Many would argue that such a thing comes with a comedy as a genre, but sexism in Housefull 5 is of an unbearable level.

A character in the film is called Lucy, who is ogled at for her cleavage, and in a scene, even her skirt. Another scene features Jacqueline, Sonam, and Nargis in an AC duct, where the camera zooms in on their bodies, as if there was nothing else to show.

At a time when Bollywood needs desperately to recalibrate, fa ilm like Housefull 5 takes the entire industry 10 steps backward. Housefull 5 has released in theatres on June 6.