‘Fukrey 3’ : Intermittently Funny, Lacks Original Instalment’s Charm
By Dhaval Roy
Story: Choocha inadvertently challenges Bholi Punjaban in an election for the legislative assembly. But when he and Hunny end up with a gift to create petrol, it lands them in trouble with the water mafia. Will they get out of the pickle?
Review: The viewer is set to crash land into the world of fukreys (no-gooders), Hunny (Pulkit Samrat), Choocha (Varun Sharma), Laali (Manjot Singh), and Panditji (Pankaj Tripathi) for the third time. As fun introductory credits roll, a recap of the previous two parts is weaved into a song to bring the viewers up to speed with the story. This time around, Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chadha) is contesting the election for the portfolio of Water Resources Minister, and Choocha emerges as her unlikely opponent and a public favourite, vowing to help them overcome their water woes. As this threatens Bholi’s prospects, she devises a plan to prevent Choocha from campaigning, setting a series of outrageous events into motion.
The quartet reaches South Africa to unearth diamonds, where an incident gives Choocha and Hunny the ability to create petrol. This is where things start to unravel, not only in the characters’ lives but also in Vipul Vig’s story and screenplay. After a decent start and an engaging run in the first half, things go off-track after a point, and the promising narrative ends up overstuffed with toilet humour and sequences that elicit occasional laughter.
While one knows what to expect from a slapstick film, the third instalment in Mrighdeep Singh Lamba’s comedy franchise struggles to retain the original outing’s charm as the narrative packs in too much and becomes a hodgepodge of sequences. Initially, you think the story will be about who among Choocha and Bholi will be elected. Instead, it turns out to be about the latter’s vile ways to defeat the former, stuffing in a love triangle, kidnapping, and how the fukreys try to save themselves from a water mafioso who wants to exploit their gift to make petrol. Some sequences are funny, but many are overstretched, over-the-top, and do not complement the overall narrative. The movie also touches upon day zero — a situation when there will be no water — and gives a glimpse of what that could mean for us, but that’s not explored further, which could have been an interesting take.
Varun Sharma displays his impeccable comic timing and is effortless throughout the film’s 2 hours and 30 minutes. Besides him, it’s Pankaj Tripathi who shines in his role. Pulkit Samrat is passable as the smartest guy in the lot. Richa Chadha as the don and Manjot Singh as the exasperated friend perform well. Tanishk Bagchi and Abhishek Nailwal’s quirky music is cool and complements the hilarious situations well.
The film will often make you laugh, especially if you are a fan of out-and-out slapstick comedies. But the muddled-up storyline and how the events pan out leave much to be desired. That being said, it’s a decent one-time watch.