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HERA PHERI (2000)
Directed By Priyadarshan Music: Anu Malik Starring: Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Tabu, Asrani, Om Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Mukesh Khanna, Kashmira Shah, Gulshan Grover Running Time: 144 Minutes
CineRating: 5.5 out of 10
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A different type of comedy than one usually expects from Hindi cinema, Hera Pheri offers up little in the way of romantic hijinx but instead focuses its attention on the subject of economic hardship -- and the extreme lengths that people will go to in trying to alleviate it. Unfortunately, versatile director Priyardarshan (Virasat [1997]) too frequently opts for the cheap laugh, making Hera Pheri an energetic but instantly disposable piece of pop cinema.
Cash-strapped villager Shyam (Sunil Shetty) arrives in Mumbai seeking a job at the same bank that employed his now-deceased father. However, a woman named Anuradha (Tabu) also has a claim on the bank's lone job opening because her father, who also worked at the bank, passed away on the same day as Shyam's father. With the position in dispute, Shyam finds lodging at a garage operated by the sympathetic and debt-ridden Babu Rao (Paresh Rawal), whose other tenant hasn't paid his rent in two years. That tenant turns out to be Raju (Akshay Kumar), who was involved in a heated misunderstanding with Shyam earlier in the day. The pair continue their bitter rivalry until Shyam realizes that Raju is in the same quandary that he is -- both are decent fellows who have no money to fulfill their dreams and obligations.
Shyam decides to strike a deal with Anuradha and accept a cash payment in lieu of letting her have the bank job, but he soon finds out that she too is in severe financial straits and faces eviction unless she can pay her and her mother's rent. Feeling sorry for her, Shyam lets her have the job for free. However, opportunity soon strikes in the form of a wrong number, as kidnappers mistakenly call up Babu's garage demanding a ransom payment in return for the release of Devi Prasad's granddaughter. Rather than point out the mistake to the kidnappers, Babu and his two tenants hatch a plan to call up Devi and pretend to be the kidnappers themselves. They surmise that they can get Devi to pay them double the ransom amount and then give half of it to the actual kidnappers in order to secure his granddaughter's release. As usual, nothing ever turns out the way it's planned.
Demonstrating how even innocent, law-abiding citizens can be pushed over the brink by financial adversity, Hera Pheri suggests a combination of Ruthless People and Shallow Grave, but too often revels in the sentimental campiness of the former without displaying the edginess of the latter. While the ransom premise has its potential, it's sorely underwritten, with the kidnappers themselves given no personality (aside from their military fatigues), backstory or any real motive for their crime (besides the obvious). The movie's second half eventually deteriorates into one cartoonish setpiece after another, with the enormous gaps in logic running counter to the more modest, character-driven comedy of the opening half, while the madcap finale ends up being repetitive and dull rather than cathartic. Thankfully, Priyardashan keeps things moving at a fast clip (the film is a relatively brief two hours and 24 minutes) and, although Anu Malik's score is nowhere near his best, the corny but amusing number "Main Ladki Pom Pom" and the grandly picturized "Tun-Tunuk-Tun" (featuring guest star Namrata Shirodkar), both help to painlessly fritter away the time even while they add next-to-nothing to the storyline.
Showing off the same scene-stealing moxie that he would later exhibit as a similar character in Aankhen [2002], Paresh Rawal is in his element as the wisecracking, loudmouthed Babu, while Akshay Kumar displays a surprising comedic flair, even if his handsome, moviestar looks don't always gel with his sad-sack role. The real gem, though, is former action star Sunil Shetty (Border [1997]), whose low-key, self-deprecating performance almost keeps the film grounded even as it starts to spin out of control. Shetty's bumbling attempts to impersonate the ruthless kidnapper "Kabira" (Gulshan Grover) provide some of the film's funniest moments, and almost help to make up for the absence of the sparkling Tabu, whose screentime drastically decreases in the film's latter half.
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DVD Specs:
Video Sound DVD
All Regions
Removable English Subs (none for the songs)
Hera Pheri trailers
Hera Pheri TV spots
"Tun Tunak" Promos
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