Yamla Pagla Deewana Review By Komal Nahta

Story and Screenplay
Debut-making writer Jasvinder Singh Bath makes it amply clear right in the beginning that the film lays very little emphasis on logic. Having done that, he weaves a screenplay around a routine story, which tries to add as much comedy and humour as possible. While he doesn’t quite succeed in the first half, which is boring, he makes up for it after interval. Even in the second half, there is not much effort to give the audience a smooth-flowing drama. Rather, gags and funny incidents are what keep the audience interest alive after interval. Since the base of the drama is a disintegrated family and Paramveer Singh’s attempt to make it a united one, there are a few scenes which try to move the viewer emotionally. But the sentiments fail to touch the heart. What does work in the emotional part of the drama is Paramveer Singh’s genuine efforts to unite the family.

The writer has also added a fairly good dose of action in the drama and because it is a comedy, even the action and stunt scenes are more comical in nature than tension-ridden. The gags, funny anecdotes and fun-laden action work very well, especially for the masses and single-screen audiences. The entire track of Poli (Sucheta Khanna) is not just funny but also very cute. Equally funny are the anecdotes involving Binda (Amit Mistry). Paramveer Singh speaking in English to impress, on the first occasion, Sahiban’s stupid brothers and, on the second occasion, the voting public is very funny. But since he speaks in English, the comedy (inherent in the English words he uses) would be lost on the masses who don’t understand English. The climax, of course, is quite a laugh riot.

On the minus side are the absence of chartbusting songs, lack of novelty in and cohesiveness of script as also several dull portions in the first half. Of course, the complete absence of logic may irritate the multiplex audience but because the writer sets the tone for the illogical drama right at the start of the film, this absence of logic can’t be termed as a flaw.