Housefull

About the film

Housefull is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Sajid Khan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. It became the first installment of the Housefull franchise, and was loosely based on the 1998 Tamil film Kaathala Kaathala.

The film stars an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal, Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone and Jiah Khan, with a supporting cast of Boman Irani, Chunky Pandey, Randhir Kapoor, Lillete Dubey and Malaika Arora. It was shot across London and Italy on a budget of ₹30 crore (US$3.1 million). The film marked the last screen appearance of Khan, who died three years after its release on 3 June 2013.

Plot

Aarush is an extremely unlucky man, often referred to as a "Panauti" (a jinx). He works in a casino in Macau, where he is employed to bring bad luck to winning tables. After being rejected by Pooja, the woman he loves, and getting punched by her elder brother, Major Krishna Rao, Aarush decides to leave Macau and heads to London to stay with his best friend, Bob, and his wife, Hetal.

Initially, Hetal is displeased with Aarush’s presence causing chaos in their home, especially after he accidentally kills her pet parrot Prada with the vacuum cleaner and replaces it with a similarly-named pet sherkhan the tiger in movie the jungle book However, Aarush shows himself to be a kind-hearted man who yearns for a family. Hetal had lied to her father, Batuk Patel, claiming that Bob owns three factories in London and is wealthy. This lie complicates things, as Hetal had married Bob without Batuk’s permission, causing him to be estranged from her. To solve Aarush’s marital woes, Bob and Hetal arrange his marriage to their boss's daughter, Devika Samtani, a woman who appears to have traditional Indian values. After their wedding however, Devika reveals her true self during their honeymoon in Italy—an ultra-modern woman who leaves Aarush for her American boyfriend, Benny.

Heartbroken, Aarush attempts to commit suicide but is saved by Sandy, a Telugu woman. While trying to resuscitate him, Aarush kisses Sandy, who slaps him leading her to believe he is a pervert. When she meets Aakhri Pasta, the quirky owner of a hotel and matchmaker, he tricks Sandy into thinking that Aarush is a widower whose wife died on their honeymoon, so that Sandy befriends him. Feeling sorry for him, Sandy becomes his friend and gradually falls in love with him. However, when Aarush asks Devika for divorce papers in front of Sandy, she discovers that his "dead wife" is alive and leaves him.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy. The lyrics are written by Sameer and Amitabh Bhattacharya. The song "Aapka Kya Hoga" was a remake of the song "Apni Toh Jaise Taise" from the 1981 film Lawaaris.

The soundtrack was met with positive reviews.

Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave the album 3.5 stars and stated "Housefull is a fun album and never takes itself too seriously to turn into a landmark affair that would be remembered for years to come. The songs are meant to be entertaining enough to fit in well with the film's narrative and not allow any full moment whatsoever to come in." Rudhir Barman of Sampurn Wire awarded the album 3.5 out of a possible 5 stars saying "The fast paced journey that everything is taking currently, it's the survival of what works 'today'. In that aspect, 'Housefull' works and ensures that there won't be any dull moment once the songs play on screen."

Reception

Anupama Chopra of NDTV said that it was impossible to take the characters seriously, and gave the movie a rating of 2/5. Rediff gave it a 1/5, calling its humour 'lame'. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN said 'Housefull' makes you cringe in embarrassment and disgust for what passes off as 'entertainment' and 'cinema' these days. Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India gave it a 2 and said, "What annoys most about 'Housefull' is the fact that Sajid Khan claims this to be his tribute to greats like Manmohan Desai and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Both have been great filmmakers and had their respective domains and Sajid's attempt at combining both ends up has him falling flat on his face." Gaurav Malani from IndiaTimes gave it 2/5 and said "Housefull is a slap on your senses as the film sticks to the slapstick genre in every literal sense.[...] There are some genuinely funny moments in the second half esp. Boman Irani sleepwalking through his portrayal of Gujarati Sholay. Unfortunately, it fails to salvage the harm caused by the bland, boring and banal first half. Housefull ends up being a painful experience." Raja Sen of Rediff.com gave a 1.5 out of 5 star rating explaining that "You may wonder if this film's a ripoff of any particular Hollywood DVD, but Sajid would probably say its his homage to Ben Stiller's worst films, picking plot points from Along Came Polly, The Heartbreak Kid and Meet The Pare…

In a rare positive review, Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of 4/5, saying "Housefull is a complete laugh-riot, and is an entertainer all the way, targeted at the masses".

Upon release, the film had a good opening weekend of Rs. 410 million in India. This gave Akshay Kumar his biggest opening till date, beating Singh Is Kinng. Housefull's opening weekend was the second-highest opening weekend collection of all time, behind 3 Idiots. By the end of the first week, the film had collected Rs 498 million, the third-highest first week collection – behind 3 Idiots and Ghajini. It also broke the 2010 record of biggest first week, previously held by My Name Is Khan. Housefull debuted in the United Kingdom at number two and collected Rs 18 million on 55 screens in its opening weekend, while in the United States, the film collected Rs. 28 million on 82 screens in its opening weekend. After six weeks, the film netted Rs. 1.81 billion. The film was declared a hit by Box Office India.

Key details