The Shaukeens
Year: 2014
Director: Abhishek Sharma
Cast: Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor, Piyush Mishra, Lisa Haydon, Akshay Kumar

Despite its rather patchy story-line, director Basu Chatterji’s 1982 film Shaukeen has been widely recognized as a comedy classic and most of that credit goes to the masterly performances of the veteran trio- Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and A.K. Hangal, who played the young at heart sexagenarians out on a holiday to have some good time with a girl young enough to be their granddaughter!

The same theme now gets a 2014 makeover. Does it work well?

What’s the plot?

A rich widower (Piyush Mishra), a dis-satisfied husband (Anupam Kher) and a life-long bachelor (Annu Kapoor) have had enough of just looking at young women from a distance. Fast friends since childhood, these 60-plus guys now want some real action to spice up their old boring lives. So they land in Mauritius to make merry and find some hot chicks.

As luck would have it, they find a dumb bimbo with supermodel looks (Lisa Hayden) right in the bungalow they have rented. The hot girl’s tight hugs and skimpy outfits stoke the lecherous oldies’ wild imagination, which receives a further boost when she declares in her husky voice that she would do anything for the person who would take her to meet her favourite star Akshay Kumar. Now the old friends are trying to outsmart each other to fulfil her wish and get ‘anything’ (Everything!) in return! Meanwhile Akki, the star, who is in Maritius for shooting is having his own problems to sort out. How will this crazy deal work out?

What’s hot?

·        The Shaukeens charts quite a different path from the original Shaukeen and it also successfully gives a contemporary touch to the theme. It is actually better written than the original; especially the added ‘film-industry inside working’ angle is intelligently executed.

·        The film gathers momentum in the second half and dishes out quite a few funny sequences.

·        As in the original, here too the veteran actors-Kher, Kapoor and Mishra deliver fine performances.

·        Lisa Hayden plays the sexy bimbo to perfection.

·        Akshay Kumar plays himself and sportingly revels in self-deprecating humor.

What’s not?

·        The plot moves at a snail’s pace in the first half, which is sure to put many viewers off.

·        The music fails to enthuse.

Verdict

The real fun in The Shaukeens begins post-interval but by then, many in the audience would either be leaving the theatre or falling asleep. So only those who would survive that rather tedious first half, would enjoy the well-written and genuinely funny second half! But none of the main cast members can be faulted, for they have really played their parts well.

Rating

2.5 stars