Shaadi No 1: Full of laughs

Lindsay Pereira | November 02, 2005 17:15 IST


The latest from David Dhawan, Shaadi No 1, involves the lives of three young couples -- Raj (Fardeen Khan) and Bhawna (Ayesha Takia), Aryan (Sharman Joshi) and Sonia (Soha Ali Khan), Veer (Zayed Khan) and Diya (Esha Deol).

Life's not easy for the men, as religion and demanding careers conspire to keep their wives from paying them much attention. They don't have jobs either, which makes things worse. Even as they attempt (and fail) to kill themselves, they come across a suicidal businessman called Kothari (Satish Shah) who needs rescuing. He employs them, they resolve his business hassles, and he tells them about his other nagging problem: three young daughters -- Madhuri (Riya Sen), Rekha (Aarti Chhabria) and Dimple (Sophiya Chaudhary) -- who now live abroad and refuse to accept the idea of arranged marriages.

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Kothari wants the boys to help by wooing his daughters and then dumping them, in order to prove how fickle love affairs can be. The guys agree, rush off abroad, woo the girls, and then promptly fall in love with them. Now, the girls have followed them back to India, and the men must learn to juggle their time with their wives.

To make things worse, the wives have found a long-lost relation -- Lucky bhaiya (Sanjay Dutt), aka Lakhwinder Singh -- who plays the mandolin, seems to know exactly what's going on and has a storehouse of morals and advice for every occasion. Sort of like a soothsayer, but more heavily built.

Things get complicated. Kothari wants the boys to stop dating his daughters, but they are enjoying themselves too much to care. Lucky tries warning their wives, but they refuse to believe him. Raj, Aryan and Veer are worried about Lucky, so they think of bumping him off. In the meanwhile, the wives and girlfriends have met and become friends, completely ignorant of the fact that they are sharing their lives with the same men. There's more chaos and confusion, but you have to watch the film to find out how Dhawan manages a strange, surprising solution.

There's a lot of music and dance, of course, but Anu Malik needs to work a little harder. Of the six tracks, Dil nahi toda karte is the only one that's hummable. Others, like Chand ko tod doonga and God promise dil dola, aren't that hot. Surprisingly, it is guest composers Aqueel and Sanjeev who score a potential hit in Aiyashi aiyashi. Also, I must confess, the only track I had a problem understanding was the one that went Hello Adam, Hello Adam, I am your madam...

A number of good supporting actors, including Rajpal Yadav, add colour, while each heroine has a little character trait that's appealing. Dhawan's direction is tight, which isn't difficult to swallow considering it's his fifth movie with producer Vashu Bhagnani after Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Biwi No 1, Coolie No 1 and Hero No 1.

There are some good performances, including those put in by Esha Deol, Sanjay Dutt and Riya Sen. Sharman Joshi stands out. Still, all said and done, it's a good effort on the part of all concerned, and they dance their hearts out at every turn, both before and after the interval. As a Diwali release, Dhawan couldn't have timed it better. There's laughter, madness, and a lot of celebration, making this a good option for a boring afternoon or a late night.

Eventually, what makes Shaadi No 1 interesting is the fact that it epitomises what Bollywood has always been: A celebration of illiteracy, with bright lights and an orchestra.



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Movie Review : 'Shaadi No.1': chaos of colour and corny puns

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Producer: Vashu Bhagnani
Director: David Dhawan
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Ayesha Takia, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Aarti Chabria, Riya Sen, Sophia Choudhary, Satish Shah
Music: Anu Malik


Film: Shaadi No.1; Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Ayesha Takia, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Aarti Chabria, Riya Sen, Sophia Choudhary, Satish Shah, Director: David Dhawan; Rating: *

Claustrophic kitsch... Crowded comedy... These would be polite ways of putting across the chaos of colour and corny puns that constitute the essence of David Dhawan's new comedy.

Honestly, "Shaadi No.1" is the giddy limit. Its swirling surge of satire and characters makes your head spin and stomach churn. We've seen David Dhawan do such ensemble comedies before. But never with such conflicting and anarchic consequences. Never before have so many characters jostled for immediate and irretrievable attention. To ensure the audience doesn't get restless during the harebrained hilarity, the narrative remains constantly fidgety.

The cinematography and editing suggest a deep link between shallow comicality and rituals of the courtship game.

At any given time in this slammer of a marital satire, we see the three heroes - Fardeen, Zayed and Sharman either talking about sex or money.

The power play is paced at a breakneck speed. The ambience created is that of a corny libidinous carnival. Every ten minutes or so the guys get to sing and dance to Anu Malik's young-at-heart but jaded-by-repetition tunes either with their respective wives or their girlfriends.

Don't expect this film to respect sexual and ethical space. David Dhawan's fast-burn plot has no room for niceties. It catches the tempo of a rap song and turns it into a hectic hip-hop of inane dialogues topped by disembodied images of unfaithful husbands looking for sex outside their homes.


Masti anyone? This time David Dhawan not only pays homage to David Dhawan but also to that other raja of raunchy ruminations, Indra Kumar.

While the basic plot in "Shaadi No.1" seems inspired by Indra Kumar's "Masti", the clamorous cast's climactic dangle from a high-rise pole with Satish Shah (dressed in a US construction worker's uniform) drilling the pole, is straight from Indra Kumar's "Dil".

The mélange of mirthful episodes is so haphazard and so pointedly designed to tickle one's funny-bone without any durable or even likeable impact, that at the end of it you wonder if Dhawan has gone back to the valley of the droll that he had patented before his most recent comedies "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi" and "Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya".

Not that this latest ouch-ouch-hota-hai outing from the master blaster doesn't have its funny moments. Zayed Khan descending in Spiderman attire to 'rescue' Sophia Choudhary is the one time you spare a smile to this raunchy (though not excessively vulgar) raga of rile.

But the rile lacks style. The verve is sapped of real vitality. These are guys and gals whose gags are so familiar and fatuous, you want to gag them.

Annoyingly bloated in vision, "Shaadi No.1" is like a television sitcom blown up and condensed to be accommodated on the 70 mm screen. The characters share their comic karma without any chemistry. There's neither any bonding among the three heroes (even "Masti" managed to muster a modicum of camaraderie among the riotous trio of male protagonists). Nor do the lead pairs look like screen couples.

Ayesha Takia and Fardeen Khan, for instance, look more like an overweight housewife and her trainer (with whom she might or might not be having a fling). Zayed and Esha (with Rajpal Yadav, in a hilarious cameo as an intrusive film maker) look more like strangers involved in a one-night stand than a married couple. As for Soha and Sharman Joshi, they are akin to a sibling rather than a spousal bonding.


Bonding is one of the many casualties in this feverish fling with farcical frivolity. At any given time we get at least seven-eight characters in every frame shouting, pushing, shoving and striving to create a clamour of glamour.

All in vain. Sanjay Dutt presides over the parodic proceedings. His thick Punjabi accent and a raging satirical attitude seem like a grotesque travesty of his wonderful comic performance in "Munnabhai MBBS".

In fact, the saturated over-done pun-clogged dialogues make a reference to Munnabhai, only to remind us how far removed this far-flung farce is from providing genuine fun.


© Copyright 2005 by MusicIndiaOnLine.com

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Just back from Shaadi#1

It's an OK time pass. No more. Not in the league of NO ENTRY.

3 Heroes plus Sanjay Dutt, 6 glamour heroines and 3 side heroes, a few song-dances. Colorfull songs. Light film, but rarely any laughs.

you sold me at 6 glamour heroines

How big was Ayesha's role and how did she do?

All six (female leads) had equal roles. All 3 heroes had eual roles and the 3 side heroes had somewhat less roles. With so many pairings, no way, any one can remember who is paired with who even though there is no cofusion in plot like No Entry.

Ayesha Takia did well, many will consider her role as the best among female starcast in this film.

Among males, I found Fardeen Khan seems natural to comedy roles.

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BTW, when I saw the film, I had not heard it's music much. After seeing it's song promos, it sure looks more attractive now. Some comedy, but main attraction for me is it's colorful and catchy songs.

Looking forward to the DVD. Looks like a timepass film.

Shaadi No 1
Producer: Vashu Bhagnani
Director: David Dhawan
Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol, Ayesha Takia, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Sophiya Chaudhary, Riya Sen, Aarti Chhabria, Rajpal Yadav, Satish Shah
Music:Anu Malik
Lyrics: Sameer

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Genre: Comedy
Recommended Audience: General
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Released on: November 02, 2005
Approximate Running Time: 137 Minutes Reviewed by: Shahid Khan
Reviewer's Rating: 2.5 out of 10
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Cumulative Rating: 2.09 out of 10
Rated by: 17 unique users
Enter your Rating: 1 out of 10 2 out of 10 3 out of 10 4 out of 10 5 out of 10 6 out of 10 7 out of 10 8 out of 10 9 out of 10 10 out of 10
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From the opening scene, it is easy to mistake David Dhawan´s "Shaadi No. 1" as a quickie that a bunch of drunken college students decided to make just for fun. Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan and Sharman Joshi are shown attempting suicide and failing it. Like the British comedian, Jo Brand, once said, "there is nothing worse than watching badly done comedy".

There is no oomph or pizzazz in this comedy scene. In order to be fair to the three actors, David Dhawan lets them all take a turn each at spouting their insane lines. So we have to watch one deliver a monologue on why he wants to commit suicide, another one comes along and explains his reasons and then the third one has his go. By the end of the first scene, I was exhausted myself.

This is how it pretty much runs throughout the rest of the film. Raj, Veer and Aryan (Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan and Sharman Joshi) experience identical happenings and each seem to have the same problem - they all are fed up with their wives (Ayesha Takia, Esha Deol and Soha Ali Khan). Three temptresses provide distractions (Yep, three again... one for each of the boys... how convenient!) and they are Rekha (Aarti Chhabria), Madhuri (Riya Sen) and Dimple (Sophiya Chaudhary). Lucky bhaiya (Sanjay Dutt) arrives out of nowhere to keep the naughty boys in check and on their toes.



Dhawan once again gifts a tribute to Manmohan Desai by creating parralel stories between Raj, Veer and Aryan. Make no mistake about it, the titular characters in "Amar Akbar Anthony" were as different from each other as you could get. In contrast, Raj, Veer and Aryan are not well-written characters and do not seem to vary from each other much. Why have three anyway? Dhawan could still have told the same story with just one character. That would have also resulted in a shorter running time. Having three similar leading characters only prolongs the agony of watching this drivel.

The movie is a spot of overblown kitsch but there are a couple of laughs to be had from Sanjay Dutt´s dialogue delivery. He gives a chuckle or two with his Punjabi wit. He is not restrained at all (actually he hams it up occasionally) but in the company of Zayed Khan, he comes off looking good. Speaking of Khan, his SRK inspiration is getting a tad too obvious. When he distorts his voice into a whiny bleat to deliver the comical lines, he sounds like a goat on helium. He should learn from Sharman Joshi- now here is an actor who knows how to deliver punchlines.

Most of Dhawan´s indulgent celluloid binge is absolutely absurd. The main plot makes no sense and the sequences that parody the conventions of old Hindi cinema look too smug. Some of the actresses look very serious in the initial scenes that contain a spoof element. When Aarti Chabria flutters her eyelashes at her hero after being saved from being eaten by two fake sharks, I couldn´t help but wonder whether she actually knows that none of this is meant to be taken seriously. Later, as all the six actresses deliver emotional soliloquoys to their wayward partners, a sense of embarrassment begins to seep in. Truly, the blend of parody/spoof and serious melodrama is quite uneven.

Milap Zaveri´s dialogues compliment this grotesque piece of work that Dhawan is trying to pass off as entertainment. Zaveri understands the surreal and cartoonish element of it all and delivers bizarre gags about cows and underwear. He frequently compares the institution of marriage to things like chicken masala and mango pickle.

As the ridiculous climax (showcasing six characters hanging off a pipe somwhere in mid-air) comes to a close, one begins to understand that this is not just any ordinary David Dhawan picture. This is David Dhawan on Speed.