Fool N Final Review

By: Taran Adarsh, IndiaFM
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Some rules you need to follow before you embark on a journey called Fool N Final ...

1. Don't wear your thinking caps because film defies logic.
2. Don't ask questions. Here's why: It's all about entertainment, not enlightenment.
3. Don't look for answers. Here's why: The motive is to keep you in splits.

Fool N Final is all about transporting you to a world of make-believe. The sole intention is to offer you loads of entertainment in those 17 reels / 2.20 hours. But, wait, there's a hitch. The execution of the material is done most stylishly, it's akin to watching a comic book on screen. But the effort falls flat since there's no script in the first place. The film packs in too many characters and too many incidents in those 17 reels.

No issues with that, but director Ahmed Khan and his team of writers [Umesh Shukla, Abbas Hierapurwala] should've mixed, merged and unified the assorted characters and incidents skillfully so that the entire experience would be worth cherishing. Unfortunately, what happens here is that you root for a few individualistic sequences only, not the film in entirety.

What redeems Fool N Final are the portions between Johny Lever and Paresh Rawal and a few splendid stunts in the narrative -- Shahid's bike chase at the start or Sunny's fight to finish combat in the finale. But as you walk out of the auditorium, you strongly feel that Ahmed hasn't utilized the golden opportunity of creating a paisa vasool entertainer. To sum up, Fool N Final disappoints!

Fool N Final is all about a diamond that's robbed by Chunky Pandey in Mumbai and smuggled to Dubai. Chunky's uncle [Gulshan Grover], a don based in London, asks Chunky to sell the diamond to his accomplice in Dubai, Asrani.

Arbaaz Khan, a don based in Dubai, gets to know of the diamond and also of Chunky's weaknesses - guns and gambling. Arbaaz asks Paresh Rawal to get on to the job. Paresh plans to carry out the robbery with his niece [Ayesha Takia], her boyfriend [Shahid Kapoor] and a cabbie [Johny Lever].

Viek Oberoi owes money to a don [Zakir Hussain], who conducts illegal boxing matches in Dubai. Meanwhile, Chunky cannot resist the urge for guns and calls Arbaaz, who in turn asks Chunky for a favor: Chunky should bet on his behalf at Zakir's illegal den. On Arbaaz's instructions, Paresh, Shahid, Ayesha and Johny decide to kidnap Chunky.

Sunny Deol has an altercation with Vivek's fighter. Zakir asks Vivek to bring Sunny for the big fight. Sunny knocks down Zakir's fighter. Zakir is seething with anger. In the meanwhile, Arbaaz walks away with the diamond. Subsequently, Zakir walks in and demands the diamond from Paresh and gang. Gulshan and Asrani also land up at Paresh's place with Jackie Shroff and ask for the diamond.

Fool N Final is meant to be a laughathon but it excites in bits and spurts. The first half offers rich visuals and a few interesting gags, but the entertainment quotient isn't high enough. It's only when Johny Lever enters the frame that things intensify. The sequence in the car, with Ayesha's dog swallowing the mobile, is hilarious and every time Paresh and Johny interact with one another, the smile on your face only widens.

But too many cooks spoil the broth. In this case, with so many characters around and so many stories running concurrently, the writer duo hasn't been able to do justice to each of them. As a result, the viewer feels dejected because every sub-plot isn't as interesting as the Paresh - Johny track.

Director Ahmed Khan tries to pack just about everything in those 2.20 hours. His fundas may be, let's give the viewer a dash of everything that they expect from a masala movie. It's like offering twenty well-garnished dishes to a foodie, but [a] most of the dishes [read, sub-plots] aren't delicious and [b] the appetite doesn't permit you to relish each and every dish in your plate.

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