EntertainmentPosted at: Jun 21 2025 6:03PM


23 Years of Awara Paagal Deewana

By Shubhash K Jha
Mumbai, June 21 (UNI) What can we expect from a film that has a triple indication of mental discrepancy in its title? A madcap, zany, kooky laughathon? We got it! Vikram Bhatt, who successfully delivered a shiver-giver earlier that year in Raaz comes up with a clever and largely enjoyable adaptation of Jonathan Lynn’s The Whole Nine Yards.
The original wasn’t anything to write home about. But this Indianised adaptation with enough eccentric twists and turns to boggle the most accomplished contortionist’s wildest imagination, scores several points for its dead-on writing, above-average production values, unique action sequences and masterful performances.
Producer Firoz Nadiadwala who earlier crafted another sparkling comedy Hera Pheri with a major part of this film’s cast, spared no expenses to make sure the giggles are married to glamour. Hence, director Vikram Bhatt comes through much better in this comedy than he did in horror within the restricted budget of Raaz.
Add to these, a whammer of a clamour that takes pungent potshots at the cult of gangsterism, and we get a brew that bristles with the balladry of burlesque.
The plot is a mind-blogger. Awaara Paagal Deewana looks at the underworld with shuddering chortles. Unlike Dhawan’s horrendously misused star cast, the stars in Bhatt’s film rise and shine with amusing grace.
Rather than go straight for an adaptation, Bhatt elects to revamp the original. Taking The Whole Nine Yards he goes that extra mile in search of a chuckle and smile. Akshay Kumar is the pokerfaced fun-loving gangster Guru whose evil brother-in-law Vikrant (Rahul Dev) has a penchant for masked mayhem.
In a rather laugh-heartedly done preamble Om Puri (surprisingly out of sorts as a droll mobster) kicks the bucket, leaving his evil empire to his seething son Vikrant and the sultry son-in-law Guru. The conflict between the two antagonists provides the film with the perfect pretext to unleash a feast of furious fists. The Hong Kong-styled action with Akshay Kumar flying, hurling and somersaulting through the air in heart-stopping moments provides the comedy with the right amount of counter-action.
Miraculously for Hindi cinema, and luckily for the comic genre, Bhatt avoids the mandatory doses of melodrama that creep into Indian comedy films willy nilly. The laughter never slackens as the entire takes off into foreign shores, in more ways than one.
Set in New York (a setting which, justified by the anything-goes-in-a-comedy motto, occasionally changes to Newark in the narration) a large part of the comic contingent is set in a fetching American suburb where a wife-abused dentist Anmol (Aftab Shivdasani) suddenly finds more excitement in his life than he had bargained for, when the mobster Guru (Akshay Kumar) moves in nextdoor.
Borrowing actor Matthew Perry’s fluster from The Nine Whole Yards, Bhatt builds a whole pyramid of characters, like the bullied dentist, his gangster-fixated nurse (Arati Chabria), his tormenting wife (Amrita Arora) and mother-in-law (Supriya Pilgaonkar). To add the character of the dentist’s father-in-law in the over-heated brew is a masterstroke, missing from the Hollywood original. Paresh Rawal as the dentist’s father-in-law is as usual, a complete scene-‘steeler’. He infuses a determined entertainment value in the most outrageous of lines.
And dialogue writer Neeraj Vora, the other star attraction of this comedy, has given Rawal a hefty haul of howlers. Consequently Rawal as the zany father-in-law who keeps forgetting everyone‘s name, including his own, brings the house down.
Crowded with characters some of the other main players like Sunil Shetty and Aftab Shivdasani, suffer from under-developed roles. Shetty whose comic efforts were ably tapped recently in Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar plays the muscled goon with relish. But his role doesn’t go anywhere. As for Johnny Lever as Sunil Shetty’s sidekick, the character provides one laugh too many. There’s no need for an official comedian when everyone in the cast is having a blast.
Apart from Paresh Rawal, only Akshay Kumar emerges from the fog and fume of fresh-faced farce with a clearly-structured role as the sullen mobster. The film is a showcase for his abilities as a fighter, romanticist and farceur. Some of his comic sequences such as the one where he exchanges mob-prattle with the love-smitten dentist’s nurse, are priceless.
But the film’s comic slant topples over the edge in the second-half when ranting and raving act as substitutes for genuine comic situations in the plot. The long-drawn climax in a desert with fancy wheels and flouncy squeals filling the screen like chorus dancers in an over-elaborately choreographed pageant, simply gets on our nerves.
The comedy gets into budge and loses its way as it tries to pack in the mandatory 180 minutes of mainstream conventions. But the humour is fun while it lasts. The production design is imaginative. No pains have been spared to make the farce an optical feast.
Pravin Bhatt’s cinematography is conventionally appealing. The backdrop looks seductive but never at the characters’ cost. Anu Malik’s music does nothing to support the film’s diverting ambitions. One song 'Jisse Hasna Rona Hai' featuring all the three lead pairs, has been clumsily shot. A symbolic nod to the film’s awry mood?
The anything-goes narration takes the characters to far-off places like Muscat and a bull-arena in Spain. One song shot dreamily on Aftab Shivdasani and Amrita Arora in NYC, catches the still-intact World Trade Centre looming indulgently in the background. It reminds us of why we need to laugh more often in the cinema and how infrequently Hindi films provide us with the opportunity do so.
(The writer is a veteran film journalist. Views expressed are personal.)
UNI XC NST SSP
Please log in to get detailed story.
Tags: #23 Years of Awara Paagal Deewana
More News

Anushka Kaushik to star in Sunil Kothari's 'Avyaan'

12 Jul 2025 | 10:39 PM

Mumbai, July 12 (UNI) Rising star Anushka Kaushik, known for her compelling performances in 'Lust Stories 2', 'Patna Shukla', 'Ghar Wapsi' and 'Garmi', is set to star in Sunil Kothari's spiritual drama 'Avyan'.

see more..

Collen Hoover's 'Verity' to star Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson

12 Jul 2025 | 10:31 PM

Los Angeles, July 12 (UNI) Colleen Hoove's cinematic adaptation of "Verity" will feature Oscar winning actress Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson in lead roles.

see more..

Deftones announces new studio album ‘Private Music’, drops first single ‘My Mind is a Mountain’

12 Jul 2025 | 10:08 PM

Sacramento, July 12 (UNI) American metal titans Deftones have announced the release of a new album after a gap of five years since they released ‘Ohms’ in 2020. Titled ‘Private Music’, the record is the band’s tenth studio album, and will release on August 22.

see more..

Trailer of Siddhant Chaturvedi-Tripti Dimri's 'Dhadak 2' unveiled

12 Jul 2025 | 9:26 PM

Mumbai, July 12 (UNI) The trailer for 'Dhadak 2', featuring Siddhant Chaturvedi and Tripti Dimri in the lead roles, was released today, offering a powerful glimpse into a love story torn apart by caste prejudice and societal judgement.

see more..

'Maalik', the most riveting gangster epic since 'Satya'

12 Jul 2025 | 7:42 PM

By Subhash K Jha
Rating: ****
Mumbai, July 12 (UNI) The volume of violence in filmmaker Pulkit’s 'Maalik' would surprise and shock only those who haven’t seen his outstanding series "Bhakshak", which was about sexual violence.

see more..