If we have to categories audience for Indian cinema, there would be two types. One who seeks an intelligent drama and the other who just want to utilize its two hundred bucks for pure entertainment sans its logics.
For Sajid Khan there is another category, which possesses the capability to forebear the insanity and torture with his mindless jokes and gags.
Ratings-1/2
Stars- Saif Ali Khan, Reteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Esha Gupta, Tamannaah Bhatia
Director- Sajid Khan
Music director- Himesh Reshamiya
Humshakals indeed target this innovative tedious ‘janta', which we are sorry to say wouldn't be available even if searched with a lamp.
The flick in the beginning dedicates the Sahid Khan's self assumed ‘laugh riot' to epic comedian cum actors namely Ashok Kumar and Jim Carrey. After viewers watch (which I wouldn't recommend in my worst dream) I would like to ask these legends' die hard fans that would Humshakals stand anywhere close to the meaning of ode for the legend. I would request those marvels to please forgive this insane error of the director.
Not even one scene is errorless despite Saif and Reteish trying hard to cheer up the weary audience by jumping around, cracking cynical jokes and mocking yesteryear actors like Dilip Kumar, Ranjeet and others.
The screenplay is thrown in the trash box, the gags have no class and even the overacting by the entire cast couldn't convince audience to flex the facial muscle for actor's stupidity.
In a scene the London viewers are fed up by the non-sense jokes of Saif and curse him for his courage to be a stand-up comedian. So am I but wait here comes Tamannaah clapping and cheering him for the same in the empty theatre. Should we assume that in the entire world only desi guys have apatite to digest such jokes? From here itself we got that the flick is going to lead us to nowhere.
While Himmatwala was a blemish in Sajid's otherwise successful directorial career which had flicks like Heyy Baby and Housefull 1 and 2, Humshakals gives his senseless ideas a new dimension or rather I would say a new benchmark.
The concept of the flick, which doesn't introduce double but triple roles for the first time ever in Indian cinema, looked intriguing but is unexpectedly messed up.
Ashok (Saif Ali Khan) is a NRI in London but despite that he fulfils his passion of being a stand-up comedian, which we would recommend him to never opt in future.
Kumar (Reteish Deshmukh) is his best friend and also assist him in his business. Ashok's uncle Kunwar Amar Nath Singh aka KANS (Ram Kapoor) is eyeing on his empire and with his witty tactic he succeeds in sending them both to mental asylum where they already have their twins with the same name (one bizarre co-incidence).
When Ashok and Kumar learn that they are trapped by their ‘Kans' uncle who is now using their twin to grab his business, they use his ‘humshakal' who is also in the same mental asylum.
Here follows a big confusion with mental specialist Dr (Esha) entering the frame just to show her non-material act.
The total mess up during the two hours and fifty minutes runtime gives us abundance of torturous jokes like Satish Shah (the Hitler, Gaddaffi and Saddaam Hussain inspired warden) who has no job except torturing Ashok and Kumar in a rather senseless style.
The jokes and the sequences aren't astonishing and the incidents appear to have no co-relation. Apart from one sequence, where Ashok, Kumar and Kans are magnetized towards the beauty of their look-alikes who are sporting waitress costumes and at other occasion draped in sari, there is nothing amusing in this flick.
While the bromance between the male protagonists droll you, the female actresses including Bipasha who is an assistant to billionaire Saif, fail to leave any mark in any department.
It's only Reteish who suits in all his appearances. He looks amusing as a mad dog, sensuous while he is in a feminine avatar.
Leaving him none of the actor is provided any scope and if there is any the overacting fails them all.
Music by Himesh Reshamiya is good. Songs like Caller Tune and Piya Ke Bazaar Mein are already chartbusters. Sandeep Shirodkar's background score couldn't support the scenes.
I'll go with half star for Humshakals. In one scene Satish Shah uses Sajid's dud ‘Himmatwala' DVD to torment the poor Ashok and Kumar. We would suggest him to use Humshakals for a similar scene in his next miserable flick, if he would have left with any courage to make more of such sort.
