Yamla Pagla Deewana - Movie Review

Yamla Pagla Deewana. When the Deols come together in a film that spoofs the best of their cinematic work, expect an unfettered celebration of dum, daru, dileri and a lot of dhamaal thrown in to boot. Hand pumps are not uprooted, nor maudlin suicide speeches actually given from atop water tanks. But there are moments of self-spoofs aplenty that bring a somewhat cracked grin to your lips.

Director Samir Karnik’s Yamla Pagla Deewana is a film that, if made with restraint and a lot of editing, might have been a laugh riot. As it is, it is an overlong, tiresome watch, with the Garam Dharam taking the back seat and the young gun Bobby Deol leading the show.

Bobby Deol? Now, what’s one memorable moment from him that can be spoofed with us not failing to notice the gag? Big Brother Sunny Deol has had his ‘dhai kilo ka haath’ and ‘tareekh pe tareekh’. Papa Dharmendra has had his desi daru guzzling

sher who pummels the opponents like they were mosquitoes. But...dear me!...Bobby? May be the waxed chest pansy from Dostana. Eh?

So it’s tragic that most of YPD hinges on an actor who yet has to give one memorable cinematic moment, while Sunny, who comes up with the best performance of the trio, is relegated to being a second fiddle, flexing muscles and helping the young bro in love.

Dharam Singh (Dharmendra) and Gajodhar Singh (Bobby Deol) are two con men in Banaras. Paramveer (Sunny Deol) is an NRI from Canada who comes to Banaras to find his long lost brother and father, the aforementioned swindlers. Together the trio make quite a team - Dharam and Gajodhar going about their con games with an added muscle power from the whisky guzzler of a Jat from Canada.

And then, Gajodhar falls in love with a Punjabi kudi (Kulraj Randhawa) who has an overprotective trigger-happy brother (Anupam Kher) with an alarming temper. The bullet or the babe? Gajodhar is in a fix when Param comes to the rescue. The action shifts to Punjab with the scenic backdrop of sarson ke khet followed by a lot of girl-and-her-brother wooing leading to a Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge style wedding drama spiced with a lot of confusion and free-flowing slaps!

It’s an unabashed celebration of everything Punjabi and you’d be a twit to expect some refined humour here. Crass jokes fly thick and fast. Some work, many don’t. But when you see the three Deols grooving to Dharmendra’s signature dance from the ‘Main Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana’ song from the 1975 comedy Pratigya, some of your money is sure vasool-ed.