Bheja Fry 2

Director: Sagar Ballary

Cast: Vinay Pathak,Kay Kay Menon,Minnisha Lamba,Suresh Menon,Rahul Vohra,Amole Gupte.

Indian Express Ratings:**

Ready for some more bheja fry? Bharat Bhushan the bumbling,good-hearted tax inspector returns for a second innings with new companions and new locations but with far less pleasing results: there’s more irritation than amusement in this fry-up.

Bhushan ( Pathak) fetches up on a cruise as the winner of a gameshow. On board is champion tax evader Ajit Talwar ( Kay Kay) with a ready eye for pretty lassies,his friend-in-crime Kapoor ( Vohra),good-looking TV type Ranjini ( Lamba),and Bhushan’s colleague-cum-sleuth M T Shekharan ( Menon). A botched ruse results in Bhushan and Talwar getting stranded on an island,the duo playing tag with the intention of making us laugh.

The first ‘Bheja’ worked to the extent it did because it was a fresh concept,even if it was a copy of a French movie,duly credited. This sequel is tired and flat. Vinay Pathak is a brilliant comic,but here his constant widening of the eyes and his whinny of a laugh is more grating than funny. And it grows more so as the film galumphs along,from the ocean liner to the island,from one stretched gag to another. Gupte shows up as a loony Bengali castaway forcing the film to a stand-still. Lamba is deadly earnest. The only bright spot in this film is Kay Kay who has a couple of sharp deadpan moments,and a walk-on part by a grey haired lunk with a nice line in Marathi songs.

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com