Garam Masala Review

Finally one gets a chance to watch the most awaited Diwali release - GARAM MASALA. After hundreds of webpage and newsprint being dedicated for this Venus production, there has been extraordinary hype around the movie. Would it be Priyadarshan's hat trick after 'Hungama' and 'Hulchul'? How does Akshay-John chemistry look on screen? Will Paresh Rawal do it again? Would it take the best initial amongst the two other releases? Will it break the 'No Entry' record?

Speculations and even more speculations have been the order of the day and one eagerly enters the theatre to watch the flick. And is the end result worth it? Answer is  - 'Yes, it is', but it is not the BEST comedy/entertainer to have come out this year, or for this matter from Priyadarshan. The movie is indeed funny and manages to make you laugh out loud at majority of instances but then call it 'over expectation' factor as one still feels that something somewhere could still have been more exciting!

The storyline of Garam Masala is quite simple. In fact to put it straight, it is more or less non-existent. Mac [Akshay Kumar] and Sam [John Abraham] work as photographers for a publication called 'Garam Masala' in Mauritius. Both of them share a love hate relationship while sharing a company apartment and bike. Both the hunks, especially Mac has an eye for the feminine beauty, inspite of being already engaged to Anjali [Rimmi Sen]. Both men also try their luck on their colleague Maggi [Neha Dhupia].

Things take a turn when Sam's photographs help 'Garam Masala' win a contest and in return he gets a promotion and a trip to America. Lady luck starts smiling on Sam and when Maggi too starts ignoring Mac then he vows to have better girls in his life. While Sam is in USA, Mac with the help of a mechanic [Rajpal Yadav], becomes the caretaker of a neglected designer flat. Now he is all set in his hunt for girls and soon enter Priti [Daisy], Sweety [Neetu] and Puja [Nargis] in his life, who work as air hostesses in different flying companies.

To manage his girls, Mac maintains religiously up-to-date plain timings that help him bring the girls in and out of the flat with ease. In this task he is supported by a high-headed help at home, Mambo [Paresh Rawal], who loves doing every household chore except working! After his holiday even Sam returns back to India and starts staying with Mac. Meanwhile Sam too falls in love with one of the girls while Anjali continues to trust Mac that he would marry her one fine day. From here begin a series of incidents that bring to light the confusions and mayhem that happen with all the three girls coming in and out of the flat at different and sometimes even same timings.......

As stated earlier, if one tries to analyze the basic pretext of the movie, there is nothing much to ponder about. Garam Masala is primarily a movie with multiple gags thrown between scenes that come out of situation than being designed. After all how else could one explain scenes [like Paresh Rawal getting all flustered with cooking different variety of food for the three ladies] coming multiple times in the narrative and you still not being tired about it. Or the girls staying in two different rooms of the same flat and entering the main hall in almost a synchronized manner and still not come face to face?

If treatment by the director is the King here then a patchy screenplay at places is the villain here. The first half of the movie isn't great shakes with things settling down to be average after a good beginning. Just when Sam is promoted, one thought the battle of one upmanship would intensify but nothing of that sort happens with him being packed off to USA. One waits for some justification to all the hype that was created around the movie and that comes from the very beginning of the second half.

Rating: 0 / 5.0