Jhootha Kahin Ka Movie Review: Rishi Kapoor, Sunny Singh and Omkar Kapoor’s Film Lacks Genuine Comic Punches

Jhootha Kahin Ka Movie Review: Varun (Omkar Kapoor) and Karan (Sunny Singh) are besties who are struggling to get a job. Karan leaves his house after having a tiff with his stubborn but well-meaning father (Rishi Kapoor), and like any unemployed youth in the country, leaves for Mauritius to be with his friend. It's another matter that Jhootha Kahin Ka is shot in such drab locations in that beautiful country that it feels the movie never left Chandigarh. The only thing that feels like Mauritius is Varun's girlfriend Rhea (Nimisha Mehta) teaching two classes of French. Mauritius feels so India that no one even bothers to even wear a helmet while riding bikes on highways. Jhootha Kahin Ka Song Funk Love: Sunny Leone Is the Only Saving Grace in This Drab Number by Yo Yo Honey Singh.

But we digress, just like the film does many a time with its multiple subplots. Rhea's family, consisting of her wheelchair-bound father (Manoj Joshi) and her pretty mother (Lilette Dubey) wants a groom who doesn't have a family of his own and be a ghar-jamai. To impress Rhea, Varun lies to her that he has no family and before we even get to see them on a second date, he is now married to her. Looks like no one in Mauritius had access to Facebook. Or brains.

Meanwhile, Karan's elder brother Tommy Bhaiyya (Jimmy Shergill) is in jail for fraud, but Karan had told his girlfriend that his brother is in the States. Things get complicated for these two friends when Varun's father and his uncle (Rajesh Sharma) come to Mauritius for a family friend's wedding and stays as tenants in Rhea's adjacent bungalow. And Tommy Bhaiyya comes out on parole to get Karan married to a rich girl.

Jhootha Kahin Ka is a remake of the Punjabi hit Carry On Jatta which itself was inspired by a Malayalam film, Chakkikothoru Chankaran. The same Malayalam film also inspired another Hindi film, Fastey Fasaatey, that came out a couple of weeks back. That one was totally bad, and compared to it, Jhootha Kahin Ka, directed by Smeep Kang who had made Carry on Jatta, feels like a masterpiece. That's when we consider Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Otherwise, Jhootha Kahin Ka is a loud farce that stubbornly refuses to dilute the OTT Punjabi sensibilities of the original. It benefits from a sturdy cast who gives their all but is let down by a silly a script.

The premise is something we have often seen in movies of David Dhawan in the '90s. Also, Housefull 2. In those movies, the creation of the fibs made some sort of sense, even if we disregard the rest of the flaws. In Jhootha Kahin Ka, the situations that create this web of lies feel more forced than fit organically in the narrative. For example, while Varun's lies, while made in over-exaggerated situations, has some sneaky intentions behind them. But there was no need for Karan to shown lying to his fraudster brother, when the truth could have saved the situation for him. It mostly feels like the writers wanted to create mayhem in the narrative, logic no bar, and we have to go along with it. Only that the movie isn't that entertaining enough for us to overlook these loopholes.

There are plenty of funny situations in the film, but the fact that you don't laugh at most of them is to be blamed on how those scenes are written. It isn't that Jhootha Kahin Ka isn't funny as much as it is lazy. In the screening that I saw the movie, they didn't even properly insert the logos of their production partners. The gags get repeated too often, and the annoying recurrence makes the little humour in the situations run dry. Like how every other person making jokes on how Tommy Bhaiyya's name sounds like a dog's name. Or Varun's suspicious father-in-law's frequent scathing comments on his wife. Many of the jokes are quite mean towards women and the handicapped.

Jhootha Kahin Ka is also obsessed with marriages so much that every character has to talk about it. People meet and fall in love at weddings, and on two separate occasions, the movie shows two marriages happening at the same time. Even one of the female leads who didn't want to get wedded at first, ends up marrying her lover in just a couple of scenes.

Well, at least it all leads to a mildly amusing climax, that will make you chuckle at the absurdity of the situation, and the performers do their best to save the show.

The movie also doesn't do any justice to the female leads, who are more than often forgotten in the majority of the narrative, with the focus mostly on the veteran cast and the male leads. Considering that they are the ones who are technically hurt the most with the deceptions of their lovers, Jhootha Kahin Ka's lack of bother towards their thoughts is irritating.

While the film is decently presented, other technical aspects disappoint. There are quite a few songs that are randomly inserted in the film. The editing is shoddy with scenes abruptly getting cut or end with an unclear resolution.

The Performances

Both the Pyaar ka Punchanama 2 male leads do well with their parts. Omkar Kapoor is a confident performer, but sometimes he adorns a flustered expression a bit too much on his face. Sunny Singh fares better, raising some chuckles especially during the wedding sequence in the climax.

Even though he is given some very irksome lines and okayish scenes, Rishi Kapoor's experience shines through the silliness surrounding his character. He gets a good foil in Rajesh Sharma, though their saala-jeeja banter gets stale after three scenes.

Is it me or is Jimmy Sheirgill getting repetitive these days? At least, the man does give his best in whatever role he is given, and Jhootha Kahin Ka is no different. Manoj Joshi hams big time.

Both the female leads, Nimisha Mehta and Rucha Vaidya, hardly get any scope to impress, but they don't feel like bad actors. Lilette Dubey is decent in a role that she has been doing quite often in movies.

Yay!

- Some of The Cast Members

- The Mildly Amusing Climax

Nay!

- The Rest of the Humourless Drag

Final Thoughts

Jhootha Kahin Ka is, unfortunately, yet another lame attempt by Bollywood to make us laugh. The movie benefits from its dedicated set of actors, who give their best. But like the audience, even they are let down by insipid writing and puerile gags that taxes your patience more than they tickle your funny bone.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2019 09:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).