Sunny Sounds Pvt. Ltd., Intercut Entertainment and PEN India Ltd.’s Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se… (UA) is the third in the Yamla Pagla Deewana series.
Pooran (Sunny Deol) and younger brother Kaala (Bobby Deol) live together in Amritsar with Pooran’s two little sons. They’ve inherited from their ancestors the legacy of the Ayurveda medicine, ‘Vajrakavach’, a famed remedy which can cure all ills. Pooran devotes his life to help cure people by using Ayurveda in general and ‘Vajrakavach’ in particular for the treatment of all kinds of ailments. However, Kaala is very money-minded and always looks for monetary gains. Because of his love for money, Kaala is desperately trying to vacate their tenant, lawyer Parmar (Dharmendra), who has been paying the same rent over the years.
Marfatia (Mohan Kapur), who runs a pharmaceutical company in Surat, wants to acquire the formula for making ‘Vajrakavach’ from Pooran but the latter rejects the proposal because he knows that Marfatia would misuse the patent to fleece people and make quick money. Unsuccessful in convincing Pooran, Marfatia swears revenge. He sends Cheeku (Kriti Kharbanda) to Amritsar under the pretext of learning more about Ayurveda. Cheeku, a pretty Gujarati girl, wins the hearts of both the brothers and one day, steals the formula of ‘Vajrakavach’ and passes on the same to Marfatia, unknown to Pooran and Kaala. In fact, Kaala is so besotted by Cheeku during her week-long stay with them in Amritsar that he wonders why she doesn’t call him after returning to Surat.
Before they know it, Marfatia serves the two brothers a legal notice, accusing them of misusing his patent of ‘Vajrakavach’, now registered in his name. Pooran and Kaala wonder how he got the secret formula but, nevertheless, reach Surat to fight the case in court. Accompanying them is lawyer Parmar.
As luck would have it, they take a house on rent in Cheeku’s neighbourhood. That’s how Kaala and Cheeku meet once again and sparks fly between them.
Does Parmar win the case in court? Do Pooran and Kaala get to know that Cheeku had leaked the secret formula to Marfatia?
Dheeraj Rattan has penned a childish story and an equally kiddish screenplay. Kaala’s character is irritating, to say the least. His drunken rants are so embarrassing that any other brother would’ve reprimanded him but Pooran simply waits for him to mend his ways. Likewise, lawyer Parmar talking to two angels (Apsaras), who are only visible to him, hardly evokes comedy which it is supposed to. Pooran is shown to be so naive that after rejecting Marfatia’s offer to buy the ‘Vajrakavach’ patent, he openly shares its formula with Cheeku. On her part, Cheeku shamelessly steals the formula of ‘Vajrakavach’ even though she has developed a soft corner for Kaala. All in all, Dheeraj Rattan resorts to convenient scripting, simply to further the drama. Not just the weak characterisations, even the drama unfolds so childishly that the comedy irritates more than entertaining. Although the basic thrust of the story and screenplay is comedy, the laughter they evoke is minimal because the comedy appears silly. The courtroom drama is designed to make people laugh but once again, the comedy is so feeble that the long-drawn courtroom sequence (of intentionally keeping the arguments going while Pooran locates Cheeku whom Marfatia has got abducted, and gets her to court) ends up testing the audience’s patience. Cheeku getting kidnapped, and Marfatia’s lawyer, Bhatia (Rajesh Sharma), telling Pooran and Parmar that Cheeku won’t be able to depose in court for the same reason – all this also looks so convenient.
If Dheeraj Rattan’s story and screenplay are silly, Bunty Rathore’s dialogues, with additional dialogues by Vankush Arora and Anant Ahluwalia, are hardly effective in creating laughter.
Sunny Deol is earnest in the role of Pooran. But he is truly impressive mainly in the action scenes which are few. Bobby Deol is irritating as Kaala in the initial reels but is okay thereafter. Kriti Kharbanda looks pretty and acts fairly well as Cheeku. It’s sad to see Dharmendra trying hard to create comedy in scenes which don’t befit his stature. His dialogue delivery is very unclear. His track of entertaining himself by playing old film songs while riding his scooter or by talking to his two Apsaras is pathetic rather than comic. Incidentally, the gimmick of making Parmar listen to old hit songs underlines how bereft of ideas the writer is. Mohan Kapur does a decent job as Marfatia. Rajesh Sharma is convincing as Marfatia’s lawyer, Bhatia. Shatrughan Sinha, in a friendly appearance, is alright in the role of judge Sunil Sinha. Satish Kaushik, in a friendly appearance, makes his presence felt in a brief role as lawyer Bedi. Binnu Dhillon tries hard to entertain as Billa but succeeds only at times. Ashu Sharma is average as Peston. Asrani is alright as Nanu. Paresh Ganatra (as Paresh) does fairly well. Anita Devgan (as Sati), Bharat Bhatia (as Sainath), master Krrish Chhabria (as Pooran’s son, Ekam), master Abhiyaan Singh (as Pooran’s son, Agam), Alpana Buch (as Cheeku’s mother, Sejal), Meenakshi Mani (as Cheeku’s maternal aunt, Jigna), Monika Yadav (as Apsara), Priyanka Lalwani (as Apsara), Chirag Vora (as Jignesh), and Mahinder Singh, Jatinder Singh, Amar Pal Singh, Simarjeet Singh, Gurleen Singh (all five as Sardars in Amritsar) lend routine support. Rekha, Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha lend tremendous star value in brief guest appearances.
Navaniat Singh’s direction is dull. For one, he is let down by a weak script. Secondly, his narration is hardly of the kind which keeps the audience engaged or engrossed. Music (by Sanjeev-Darshan, Sachet-Parampara, Vishal Mishra and D Soldierz) is fair, with a couple of songs being quite tuneful. Lyrics (Pulkit Rishi and Kuwar Juneja) are average. Song picturisations, by Remo D’Souza, Adil Shaikh and Rajeev Surti, are routine. Raju Singh’s background music is so-so. Jitan Harmeet Singh’s cinematography, with additional cinematography by Himman Dhamija, is alright. Vikram Dahiya’s action and stunt scenes are impressive and exciting. Rita Ghosh’s production designing, and additional art direction by Chetan J. Pathak are commonplace. Manish More’s editing could’ve been sharper.
On the whole, Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se… is a dull fare in which the comedy hardly entertains. It will, therefore, fail to make any mark at the box-office.