Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal

There are 2 kinds of movies that Priyadarshan makes. Either the totally roller coaster, supremely slapstick, excruciatingly painfully loud kind of movie like Hulchul or that Malamaal Weekly. Or the average, sensible, semi-serious kinds, with a little bit of slapstick and loud in parts kind of movie like Bhool Bhulaiyya or Tezz. Mind you, I am not including his classy Malayalam movies which are a treat to watch.

Very rarely will you come across a movie from his table that is without a sense of purpose or which leaves you wondering – What was the purpose of this movie. Priyadarshan is exactly the kinds who stays true to the adage – Love him or hate him but you cannot ignore him. For a change, he has made a movie that leaves you totally flabbergasted at the end of it all.

Why did Priyadarshan make Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal? Was it because he did not have any work at all? Not possible right? He just released Tezz earlier this year. Which was his 67th movie in some 26 years. That’s a lot of cinema isn’t it? Maybe he was paid so much money that he could not say no. Or just maybe he wanted to give the out of job Nana Patekar, an opportunity to come back into cinema.

Whatever the reason maybe, KDM would easily qualify as one Priyadarshan’s most insipid pieces of work. It starts with a background story which involves 2 friends from Bijnor in UP. David (Om Puri) and Peter (Paresh Rawal). They are the thickest of friends with the exception of Maria (Sona Nair) who is Peter’s girl friend. But when Peter gets his servant knocked up, David steps in to marry Maria. Why was all this back story given or required in the first 3 minutes – beats me. It has nothing to do with the rest of the movie whatsoever.

And then we cut to the current day where David has been pulled down by life to only ringing the bell @ the local church. He has 2 daughters who are of marriageable age. And a good for nothing son, Johnny (Shreyas Talpade) who believes he can get rich by buying lottery tickets. But he is also a “piss in his pants” scaredy cat who cannot stand up for either himself or the love of his life – again Maria (Madhhurima). All of this till his long lost brother – Sam aka Kallu (Nana Patekar) reappears.

I saw KDM only because I had nothing better to do and because it is an occupational hazard. But you really do not need to. There is nothing really worth looking forward to. Even the attempted item number featuring Anjana Sukhani is without purpose or direction. A very disappointing attempt that truly leaves you feeling cheated. 3 on 10 and extremely avoidable.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKGrDahdu3w