大象传媒

There's Something About Mary meets Mickey Blue Eyes in Deewane Huye Paagal, a madcap Bollywood comedy that sees Akshay Kumar lead a gang of merry men who are all infatuated with Tanya (Rimii Sen). But which - if any - of the half dozen heroes will win the beauty's heart and help her hide from the mob? At over two and a half hours long it may be hard going on your derriere, but its bundle of gags provide light relief.

Three years after leaving college Karan (Shahid Kapoor) is still in love with Tanya (Sen), so hires Rocky (Akshay Kumar), a private eye, to track her down. Unfortunately Rocky finds his target only to become besotted himself. But he has to join the queue behind Sanju (Suniel Shetty) and Tommy (Paresh Rawal), two of Tanya's physically disabled friends, plus an even longer list of local misfits who each fancy their luck with the lady. With more suitors than J-Lo, the last thing Tanya, or the viewer, need is a ridiculous sub-plot involving the mafia who are chasing her for a secret codeword belonging to a scientist whom she witnessed being murdered.

"MORE PANTO THAN PLEASANTRY"

With so many characters and love stories running side-by-side it's little surprise director Vikram Bhatt looses control, turning what could have been a simple comedy remake into a long-winded farce. He'd be forgiven had he pulled it off with sharper editing and a more glamorous leading lady (Rimii's no Cameron Diaz). But sadly Deewane Huye Paagal turns out to be more panto than pleasantry. Luckily an on form Kumar saves the day, proving he made the right choice converting from action hero to comic actor.

In Hindi with English subtitles.