Film Hum Tum Shabana Review

Film: 'Hum Tum Shabana'; Cast: Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Minissha Lamba, Satish Kaushik, and introducing Pia Trivedi; Director: Sagar Ballary;

Comedy genius like Sagar Ballary, who has given comedies like 'Bheja Fry' and 'Bheja Fry 2', 'Hum Tum Shabana' is a total disappointment. Unlike his previous movies, this has a variety of scenes from different comedy movies strung together to look like a comic masterwork. However, where Sagar's comic sensibilities found their mark in his earlier releases, with Hum Tum Shabana, he seems to have sorely missed his target.

Rishi Malhotra (Tushar Kapoor) and Kartik Iyer (Shreyas Talpade) are executives at loggerheads in an event management company organizing a beauty pageant in Goa. They get smitten by Shabana Raza (Minissha Lamba), a contestant. Right from their first meeting, on flight, they compete for her attention.

The movie begins with an acknowledgment to Madhur Bhandarkar and seems to be inspired by his movie 'Fashion'. The first half of the movie revolves around how the two guys woo Shabana. They give her tips on grooming and the winning formula.

The tale proceeds like the old story of two cats fighting for cheese. Shabana wins a couple of rounds. But for some baffling reason, she loses the crown. Discouraged, she leaves Goa.

Till the intermission, the plot does not progress.

The second half begins with one feeling as if you are watching a wrong reel. There is a disjoint in the link. You realize that this is a major twist in the story. Shabana lives with her uncle (Satish Kaushik), who is an unconventional underworld don.

Rishi and Kartik are kidnapped by the uncle's henchmen and kept under scrutiny. They are also given tasks, on a daily basis. This is to enable the uncle decide who would marry his niece and succeed in becoming the next don. But instead of participating in the tasks, our heroes plan ways to hurry away. The plot treads on a nonsensical path making one feel irritated as the comedy is uncanny and defies logic.

The weakness of the script combined with the dialogues being layered with a track of background music camouflaging the effects of the punches makes the movie intolerable.

There is less comedy with irritation. Dialogues are not above par excellence. They don't leave an impact.

None of the three lead characters manage to put in noticeable performances. Tusshar, Shreyas and Minissha are all uniformly uninspiring. The only characters that actually bring in an infusion of comedy are the veterans, Satish Kaushik and Sanjay Mishra, both of whom are quite very funny in their place, though they are goaded into hamming too, at more than a few places. Pia Trivedi brings in more than her share of oomph in her role as Shabana's beauty queen rival, though her role is terribly etched.

The film's only true strength is its music, delivered by Sachin-Jigar. Tracks like musik bandh na karo and thank you mr.dj, along with the quirky, qawaali version of the film's theme song, hey na na Shabana, are worth more than a few listens.

Overall, it is a below average movie.