The Housefull franchise that birthed in the year 2010 has been consistent with its brand of humour. Frankly if you already subscribe to its brand of childish word play, WhatsApp-forward jokes, casual sexism, objectification of women and random bizarre plot lines, there is little in Housefull 4 that can change your perception. In fact there is precious little that can be achieved by going through this review if you already have “crossed the rubicon” and found refuge in the “brainless masala comedy genre” or whatever it is that we have coined to somehow justify films such as this.
How does one go in for a film with zero expectations and still come out disappointed? Yours truly is having a tough time figuring out! Housefull 4 with the usual suspects , Akshay, Reitesh, Ranjeet, Chunky Panday and some new additions like Kriti Sanon , Kriti Kharbanda, Pooja Hegde, Bobby Deol and Rana Daggubati is here. A reincarnation comedy where in 1419, 3 couples couldn’t live happily ever after due to an evil conspiracy come back 600 years later to right the wrongs of their previous birth.
The biwis the men chose turn out to be their bhabhi! Paap! Ranjeet as usual creepily appears with 3 scantily clad women or “baby” as he likes to call them. Baby 1, 2 and 3 are around him at all times and he recoils at his own creepiness a little at the sight of Beti 1, 2 and 3! It’s that kind of film where the women especially need just numbers to denote them. Giving them names is like giving them too much of respect!
Interchangeable, dispensable, our leading ladies most of the time even wear identical clothes and are completely overlooked in a universe where the men drive the narrative and the craziness. Directed by Farhad Samji replaced Sajid Khan because of the MeToo accusations against him but even this had little impact on the treatment meted out to the women in the film.
Nothing is off limits! Homophobic jokes like “usne gender ka tender nahi bhara,” potty eating is supposed to be funny and so on. Puns like “kya tumhari punar janam hua hai? Haan mera puna mein janam hua hai!” And dialogues like “Maine slow isliye mara kyun ki aaj mera fast hai!”
4th time around too Housefull franchise and everything that it stands for remains off limits for me. If jokes objectifying women and making fun of the queer community are something that don’t offend your sensibility then chances are you would be laughing your head off at the theatre. If not then one is likely to be pulling ones hair out in frustration. I however will go with 1 Quint out of 5! Their repressiveness I’ve still accepted but this nonsense at least needed to be shorter!
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