By By: Subhash K. Jha, <a Href="http://bollywoodhungama.com/" Target="_blank">bollywood Hungama</a>
When
was
the
last
time
you
went
to
see
a
movie
to
watch
a
real-life
film
family
have
fun?
Was
it
40
years
ago
in
Kal
Aaj
Aur
Kal
when
the
Kapoor
khandaan
-
grandfather
Prithviraj
Kapoor,
son
Raj
and
grandson
Randhir
Kapoor
got
together
to
show
us
how
the
generation
gap
can
smother
a
free
flow
of
ideas
and
emotions
within
a
family?
In
Yamla
Pagla
Deewana
(YPD)
where
the
Deol
parivar
puts
its
laughing
heads
together
for
a
fun
fiesta,
the
problem
in
the
plot
is
just
the
opposite
of
what
we
saw
in
Kal
Aaj
Aur
Kal.
The
generation
gap
has
disappeared.
Son
Bobby
Deol
calls
his
father
Dharmendra
'Dharam'
in
the
formal
moments
and
'Kamina'
when
Bobby-boy
is
in
a
particularly
affectionate
mode
of
thought.
Both
father-son
go
around
conning
the
whole
of
Varanasi
in
the
first,
decidedly
more
deft
and
amusing
half
of
this
crazy,
zany,
irreverent
ode
to
a
dysfunctional
family.
Sunny
Deol's
NRI
character
comes
searching
from
Vancouver
for
a
father
and
brother
who
are
hardly
in
the
mood
to
be
found.
Cleverly
often
wittily
written
by
Jasvinder
Singh
Bath,
Yamla
Pagla
Deewana
is
big
broad
burlesque-styled
homage
to
the
spirit
of
on-screen
and
off-screen
camaraderie.
The
Deol
brothers
are
in
full
form
and
have
been
cleverly
cast
to
create
a
somewhat
disembodied
study
in
contrasts.
Bobby
is
deliberately
loud
and
hammy,
almost
like
Salman
Khan
in
Dabangg
without
the
humour
in
uniform.
Sunny
Deol
in
a
more
controlled
avatar
than
the
other
two
Deols
does
his
larger-than-life
heroic
act
with
habitual
panache.
It's
interesting
to
see
how
Sunny
balances
out
the
guffaws
with
the
fights.
His
character
and
the
rest
of
the
plot
repeatedly
hark
back
to
the
dhishum-dhishum
bak-bak
razmatazz
of
the
1970s
when
cinema
was
all
about
unabashed
villain
bashing
on
sets
that
were
supposed
to
look
like
sets.
Director
Samir
Karnik
who
showed
his
sensitive
side
in
the
underrated
Heroes,
here
muffles
the
mellow
moods
in
a
melee
of
harangue
and
one-liners.
Interestingly,
the
lines
of
morality
are
delightfully
blurred
here.
Dharmendra
the
ultimate
super-hero
of
the
1970s
is
here
an
unapologetic
con-man.
One
never
knows
when
the
he-man
transforms
into
the
hee-hee
man.
All
that
matters
is
that
Dharmendra
seems
to
be
having
fun
in
his
sons'
company.
The
mood
of
mischievous
gaiety
is
contagious
even
in
the
second
comparatively
less
engaging
half
when
the
entire
cast
moves
to
rural
Punjab
where
Bobby
woos
the
comely
Kulraj
Randhawa
and
wins
over
her
zanily
autocratic
father
(Anupam
Kher,
in
full
farcical
form)
and
his
battalion
of
goofily
macho
patriarchs.
For
better
or
worse,
all
films
about
marriage
and
courtship
in
a
Punjabi
milieu
always
reminds
us
of
Imtiaz
Ali's
Jab
We
Met.
But
hey,
did
Imtiaz's
film
have
Dharmendra's
first-born
creating
a
raucous
after
drinking
whiskey
out
of
a
bucket?
Nahin
na?
There
are
in-house
Deol
jokes
and
references
to
Dharmendra
neo-classics
Sholay,
Dharam-veer,
Phool
Aur
Patthar
and
Pratiggya,
all
adding
up
to
a
rather
heartwarming
tribute
to
the
Deols.
The
spirit
of
tongue-in-cheek
irreverence
dominates
the
proceedings.
The
film
has
a
rough-at-the-edges
feel
to
it,
perhaps
deliberately
to
accentuate
the
rugged
humour.
By
the
time
we
come
to
the
crazy
climax
in
the
godown
in
the
second-half,
someone
comments,
"This
looks
like
a
cheap
godown
set
from
tacky
Hindi
movie".
And
we
get
the
point
of
this
scrambled
crazy-as-can-be
exercise
in
subversive
laughter.
Director
Samir
Karnik
loves
the
Deols.
The
Deols
love
one
another.
And
we
love
watching
a
diehard
Deol
fan
of
a
director
bring
Bollywood's
family
together
in
a
comedy
that
keeps
us
smiling
till
the
last
breathless
moment
of
hilarious
havoc.
Yes
we
love
this
film's
'anything-goes'
mood.
There
are
some
delectable
cameos.
Watch
out
for
Sucheta
Dalaal
as
a
spaced-out
Canada-and-sex-starved
spinster
and
Amit
Mistry
as
a
not-so-cool
Punjabi
dude.
They
get
the
point.