The best form of flattery is imitation. And thanks to David Dhawan's dogged attempts to beat the box-office with his inimitable form of comedy, Bollywood has come to realise that fun is not necessarily a two-scene sequence in a masala movie, a fact that regional cinema had acknowledged a long time ago. This week, the acclaimed southern film director, Priyadarsan, remakes an earlier oeuvre in Hindi as Hera Pheri.Hera Pheri, starring Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawalyes, the heroine, Tabu, is playing a supporting rolein the main roles, is unabashedly funny, in both situations and dialogues. And because it sticks to the comic framework it casts for itself, it gets away with it and is side-splittingly funny.Shyam and Raju (Shetty and Kumar), two unemployed youths, lodge together in amicable animosity in a crumbling, old house with Rawal, a big-hearted, penurious old man, whose one dream is to free his beloved house from the pile of mortgages his father had dumped on it. Shyam and Raju and their landlord share a common dream - of making a pile of money. But the two boys are unable to land even an ordinary 9-5 job.That's when Fate decides to lend a hand. In a mix-up of telephone numbers, the trio receive, by mistake, a call from a gangster, who has kidnapped the grand-daughter of a famous industrialist and wants a ransom of Rs 10 lakh for her. They decide to call up the industrialist, hike the ransom amount to Rs 20 lakh, and keep the extra money for themselves. The plan proceeds as proposed, till the police catch on to what is happening. In a hilairious denouement, things get sorted out, and the three find themselves richer by Rs 40 lakh, given them by the doting grandfather, in his relief at getting his grand-daughter back safe.Tabu, as Anuradha, the girl who gets the job Shyam coveted, using underhand means, and Om Puri, in a short cameo as a rumbustious, if slightly dim-witted, Sardar who is chasing Shyam for the money the latter owes him, are a delight to watch. As always.But the true stars are deservedly Akshay and Sunil, the two macho stars, hitherto given to meaningless Rambo chops and mind-boggling stunts, who make this film with their quick comic repartee. Their timing is perfect, and there is a certain chemistry between them that adds enormously to the film's appeal. Rawal is adequate, even good in parts, but boring in others.The one let-down in Hera Pheri is the choreography. Despite the long line of eminent names, two decidedly foot-tapping numbers in Jab bhi koi haseena and Tun tunak tun, and a good dancer like Akshay Kumar, the two songs are tedious, and quite unnecessary in a movie that needed no songs at all to bolster it.
