De Dana Dan Review: Repeat Act

Priyadarshan is back doing what he thinks is right for the unintelligent viewer: De Dana Dan. He gets an ensemble of character actors: Rajpal Yadav, Asrani, Shakti Kapoor, Mahesh Joshi,Archana Puran Singh, Aditi Gowitriker,Vikhram Gokhale and Johnny Lever etc in this 'comedy of errors' which looks more like errors of comedy. If De Dana Dan was among the first few movies of Priyadarshan in Bollywood, it wouldnt have been so frustrating, but since people already know his movies, this one turns out to be repetitive

Story of De Dana Dan:
The story of De Dana Dan is based in Singapore. Akshay Kumar plays a repetitive role of a servant, Nitin Bankar, who is having a very hard time making ends meet,with hardly any money to fend for himself, leave alone his girlfriend Katrina Kaif. He is a slave of Archana Puran Singh, who treats him worse than her dog 'Moolchand ' (real funny name for a pomerian, one must say). He and buddy Suniel Shetty, who is also losing out on many things including his girlfriend Sameera Reddy, due to his economic condition, decide to kidnap the dog.

The dog escapes mid-way while the two guys register themselves in a hotel, from where they think they would call Archana for ransom amount. Archana, when she gets up, in the morning, sees, her dog safe and sound; and believes that her servant Nitin Bankar (Akshay Kumar) is missing. Now, the hotel where the two guys are staying, has a wedding thing going on where Sameera Reddy's girlfriend is being married to another guy. There are lots of things happening in the hotel, a call girl being solicited, money changing hands, adultery happening and murder plot being hatched. Finally, the move ends with a bomb exploding in a water tank and a mini flood carrying all the characters away.

Plus points of Dena Dan
1. Rajpal Yadav, as the corrupt waiter, has less role but he does a genuinely good job and is the only thing, one can possibly remember after the movie gets over. Johnny Lever does a self-deprecating role, very well.

2. If you like a lot of physical comedy, Tom and Jerry type chases, loud dialogues like that of an Inder Kumar film and non-violent action, you may like De Dana Dan.


Minus points:
1. The fact that De Dana Dan does a cheap imitation of some of the previous comedies, is not funny actually. Sample this: The scene where Akshay Kumar tries to stealthily fish out the 'tipped' money , that Katrina Kaif paid to the waitress and the waitress telling him to take the pennies as well, is a direct lift from Yeh Tera Ghar, Yeh Mera Ghar (a Priyadarshan movie).

2. Akshay Kumar is missing for 40 minutes in the films; he is locked up in the cupboard. This gives a chance for other character actors to do their job. Since Akshay Kumar is missing out of the action(possibly to make a statement that Akshay Kumar doesn't cut people's roles), the film falls flat for sometime.

3. Suniel Shetty's character is considerably reduced. Just because he is opposite Sameera Reddy gives an illusion that he is one of the main leads. The less said about the lead actresses, the better. They simply do not have anything to do. It is a case of 22 character actors and Priyadarshan has to deal with all of them, so positively some of them end up getting short-changed. Pray, why Shakti Kapoor is hell bent on doing the horny letch for the 100th time and why does Neha Dhupia does the prostitute act in almost every film? Chunkey Pandey is wasted too.

4. There is not even one smart, witty one liner; everything is substituted for physical comedy and situational humor, which turns crude at times.

Best scenes of De Dana Dan:
1. Rajpal Yadav scenes. One in which he is cheekily eating and drinking contents of food that he has to serve to customers and the second one in the climax, where he floats with a tray of drinks

Performances in De Dana Dan:
Neha Dhupia as a hot-headed hooker scores immensely and does a good job. Johnny Lever and Rajpal Yadav do justice to their roles. Akshay kumar looks very good and acts with absolute ease in a role that he can sleepwalk through.

Katrina Kaif should stop doing roles just for 'good luck' and Sameera Reddy is in an evil world, where there are no scripts written for her. Aditi Gowitriker, the girl whom people can relate to more easily due to her Bigg Boss appeal, has more role than Sameera.

Final words of De Dana Dan
If you dont mind repetitive comedy, as long as it is from Priyadarshan, De Dana Dan will suit you.