ASHWANI DHEER who wrote comedy for television (Office Office) and films (Rakesh Roshan’s forthcoming Krrazzy 4 - blame it on crazy numerology) has successfully branched off too. 

 

The question is - does the slapstick really need a director?

 

It is agreed that, film is a director’s medium; however, after seeing slapstick comedies week after week, the reviewer has finally concluded (thankfully) that in slapstick the contribution of the actors’ is as much as the director’s.

 

The films storyline is basically an off-shoot of Bard’s Comedy Of Errors, the only difference being instead of look-alikes we have same-name protagonists; hence we have three Laxmi Narayan’s (played by Tusshar, Sunil and Paresh) and hence the title One, Two, Three.

 

A diamond belonging to a don (Manoj Pahwa) is lost because of inter-gang rivalry with Yadav (Mukesh Tiwari). Chandu (Upen Patel) and Chandni (Tanishaa), lovers and dance-partners, find it and hide it in the petrol tank of a vintage-car.

 

The don wants his diamond back, thus setting the screen for Laxmi Narayan (Tusshar) to enter. The don wants Yadav (though he insists on calling himself papa) bumped off and diamond to be restored to him.

 

The second Laxmi Narayan (Sunil Shetty) is a ‘yes boss’ kind of a character, who wants to be counted on the right ‘right or left’ side of the boss. He is sent to buy the car (no points for guessing, the vintage one) by his boss.

 

The third Laxmi Narayan (Paresh Rawal) is a vendor, who has made a fortune out of selling the ‘chaddies’ and ‘undies’ (as his golf-buckling son reprimands, lingerie). He’s son sends him to finalise the deal for a new lingerie-line.

 

Thus the film gets set in Pondi, in a certain hotel called the Blue Diamond, triggering off confusion with three Laxmi-Narayan’s and the cross-machinations that arises due to it. There are sub-plots galore, which are too complicated to reveal as they might end up confusing the reader. The point is such films can be enjoyed only if you don’t look for logic and have a yen for slapstick.

 

From the writing point of view, the film is fine; though, the sudden change of Sameera’s character from a coy businesswoman to a girl ready to seduce Paresh, is a huge jump. However, does the audience notice it?

 

The characters borrow inferences and the director doesn’t beat them down. So we have a character with a smart t-shirt that reads Bill kills (Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino) or two sidekicks named Albert and Pinto; its natural that the writer has seen a wide array of films.

 

Though, technically Dheer might need a film or two to show his prowess, his story telling doesn’t have any major blemish. Music, by Raghav Sachar, is just about fine, though the background music is effective.

 

Of the cast, forget the best, even the master Paresh Rawal. For here, Pinto (Sanjay Mishra) steals the show. His take-off on yesteryear villain Jeevan is hilarious. The way he boasts diploma holder in bomb making, Jharkhand University, is simply hilarious! He doesn’t bore, in spite of being there throughout the movie.

 

Rest of the cast, Tusshar, Sunil, Paresh, Sameera, Esha, are aptly casted. However, Tanisha, Upen, Murali Sharma don’t get much scope. Neetu Chandra regales the audiences with her Mayawati Chautala act. However, in some sequences she seems unnatural.

 

The film has plenty of below-the-belt humour (Paresh is a chaddi-undie vendor you see) that might offend the sensibilities of the puritans.

 

Finally, it’s a film that you might forget once you come out of the hall. But till the time you are in the hall, it’s a popcorn fare.