At last akshay kumar got it right :) after series of awful movies (except patiala house) i had lost hope on him but what a nice way to come back with a bang :) Story and Direction - Story is not novel but direction by rohit dhawan is good considering it is his first movie. He has bright future as director.
Performances - Akshay Kumar rocks man ! He has performed exceedingly well - comedy he does good as usual but it is emotional scenes - the one with child where he showcases his ability as actor ! John Abraham does well - although he need to improve his dancing skills which was ordinary ! Deepika Padukone was also good ! Chitrangda strikes in small role ! Anupam Kher was good ! Sanjay Dutt was show stealer - he was brilliant in his cameo ! The child who play Akshay's nephew was cute and did well ! Omi Vaidya irritates a lot ! Music - Music is highlight of the movie ! Desi Boyz title track and Allah Maaf kare are my favorites.
Cinematography was good (locales of UK were beautiful). Editing was good though they could have cut down the court scene in climax which was too lengthy and slightly irritating.
In Other Words, Desi Boyz is no classic but it is feel good movie - a nice entertainer 8/10.
Plot summary
Based in England, Nikhil Mathur is employed as an Investment Banker and has a idealist girlfriend in Radhika Awasthi. His friend, Jignesh Patel, works as a Security Guard in a mall and is the guardian of Veer, his late sister's son, and under close scrutiny of the Social Services Department. Global recession takes a toll on Nikhil - he not only loses his job but also his investments, while Jignesh gets fired for failing to prevent theft by a minor. Nikhil is unable to find employment and after Jignesh gets fired from yet another job, the duo end up working as male escorts with 'Desi Boyz' as Rocco and Hunter, and bring in enough income to keep them going. Radhika soon finds out and dumps Nikhil, while a Social Worker, Vikrant Mehra, takes custody of Veer and has him placed in a foster home. With their lives turned upside down, the duo blame each other and part company. Unable to even speak with Radhika, Nikhil is dismayed when he finds her in the company of a new boyfriend, Ajay Bapat. With the adverse publicity generated by their involvement as male escorts - and the recession holding strong - what will the duo do in a country where people, including educationists, racially profile ethnic minorities with impunity.
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Nice Feel Good Movie
A Nutshell Review: Desi Boyz
I would like to pride myself at watching enough Bollywood films to have witnessed the pairing up of most of its stars, but this marks the first I've seen with Akshay Kumar and John Abraham put together as two best buddies whose foreigner status in a foreign land meant the execution of some protectionist strategies when companies are forced to take a cold hard look at their expenses given the downturn of the economy. They get the boot in their respective jobs, with Jerry Patel (Kumar) probably suffering the least impact since he's leaching off his best friend Nick Mathur (Abraham),an investment banker who had seen better days himself.
So when all the doors get slammed in your face, either being too qualified, or under qualified for a job, the duo get thrown a lifeline through the enigmatic head (Sanjay Dutt) of a worldwide franchise of male escort agency called Desi Boyz, who is of the impression that these two men at wits end would be a welcome addition to his stable, since they have chest, biceps and size (if you know what that means). Similar to the Full Monty, but expectedly not as naughty by international standards, their job is to spread happiness amongst the female clientèle, with good money at stake if only they would bury their conscience, and be professional about it.
Most of the song and dance routines worked when it called for the duo to be paired up, with both Akshay and John sharing incredible chemistry as their new alter egos Rocco and Hunter, strutting and flaunting their assets, providing everyone a good time, the audience included, with director Rohit Dhawan knowing just the right camera angles to capture the duo at their hunky best. Akshay Kumar plays his role with that mischievous glint in the eye, having to persuade his best friend Nick to join him in just making a living, and the house is brought down during their joint-introduction as the newest, hottest male escorts in town.
In what would be keeping up of appearances, being fearful of their reputations and worrying that ivy league degrees would be going down the drain in his new profession, which is something that would echo loudly in anyone here who is thinking of such a niche provision of pleasure, the first half introduces very fleetingly what would be taking on the bulk of the screen time after the interval. Nick had just proposed to materialistic girlfriend Radhika (Deepika Padukone) who wants the world for her wedding and honeymoon, and is kept in the dark of her boyfriend's financial predicament, while Jerry has to battle the state in order to be the legal guardian of his young nephew Veer (Shraman Jain),failing which Veer would have to go to a foster home.
What worked wonders in the first half are the joint efforts of both stars when they grace the screen and feed off each other's infectious energy, with the narrative moving at a very snappy pace. The bulk of the kinkiness seen in the trailer all belong to the first half of the film, making you contemplate just exactly how much more could the envelope be pushed. Sadly it isn't much, but everything that suggests raunchiness in the film, were confined to the portion before the interval, after which it became a lot more serious with the duo off their separate ways to pursue their respective objectives and goals in life.
Rohit Dhawan, Renuka Kunzru and Milap Zaveri who wrote the screenplay and dialogues knew just what would work, and these got delivered by a very able supporting cast, from Dutt and ranging to a surprise guest whom I will keep under wraps lest it would mar anyone else's viewing experience. But their second half somewhat contradicted the team play at work here, and having the leads focused on their own narrative tracks, turned the film completely over its head. Out the window was everything associated with fun from their male escorting exploits, and what got introduced were very plain narratives such as Nick's fervent pursuit of his lady love Radhika who cannot come to terms with so many paying females leering at her fiancé, and Jerry off to school to complete his degree, get a well paying job to boost his adoption chances of Veer, and romancing his ex-classmate turned lecturer Tanya (Chitrangda Singh).
First time director Rohit Dhawan employed the breaking of the fourth wall by the lead characters very liberally, allowing them to engage with audiences directly, then curiously this become nothing more than a footnote in the film as the later stages junked this for a more conventional approach. While Deepika and Akshay had been paired together for a couple of films already such as Chandni Chowk to China and Housefull, this film marks her first romantic pairing with John Abraham, and while they look good together on screen, Radhika the character was perhaps the weakest in Deepika's filmography to date. Akshay Kumar got the second half of the film to thank for in including a romantic lead for his character, and throughout you can't help but to feel the competitive vibes between both Akshay and John, and perhaps rightly so whenever you put two hunky guys together in the same film.
As a comedy, Desi Boyz worked in the first half when the stars hammed it up as male escorts, but unfortunately this did not manage to pan out for the entire film when it was decided a change in direction was required. Still, amongst the comedies seen of late from Bollywood, Desi Boyz has that little bit of oomph to tickle one's funny bone especially with its bevy of stars not taking everything too seriously.
One of the worst big budget attempts of 2011 with some good music.
Once I asked a friend of mine about his choice of career in the coming days. He was the son of a successful hotelier with two big hotels in the city. In answer to my question he replied, "From my heart, I want to do something related to books or publishing but if nothing works out then there is always my father's business to join in anytime".
I just remembered his words after the end credits of DESI BOYZ started rolling with the caption - Directed by Rohit Dhawan (son of David Dhawan). The point I wish to make here is that it really seems to be very easy for a Star-Director's son to make his first hugely weak film with all the big stars, but how extremely difficult it is for a talented young director to get his first such directorial break without any family backing in the industry. And the film itself proves my point since it gives you only one question to think after its over that,
. What was this?
Written around the plot of two unemployed friends (Akshay & John),DESI BOYZ is a pretty bad attempt to make an enjoyable BHELPURI by putting so many elements into it which in-turn results in an utterly distasteful dish. It starts from talking about Recession and Unemployment leading to the profession of GIGOLO adopted by the two heroes. The concept of GIGOLO is only added to bring in some extra, controversial pull in the project as it is neither shown nor exploited properly in the film. In fact using the sex-plot in such a shying way is just like wishing to take a bath in the swimming pool without taking off your clothes.
In addition, as a typical Bollywood film, an innocent kid and his judicial custody angle is thrown in, just to fulfill the emotional requirement of a Hindi Film which doesn't work at all. Another veteran senior (Sanjay Dutt) comes in a special appearance as the owner of that GIGOLO firm, degrading himself and his good image. A beautiful girl (Deepika) is right there like a sweet-item on the dinner table since you cannot make a Bollywood film without them. The girl even has a funny father (Anupam Kher) who fulfills the post of a supporting comedy artist with his reputed name. Further some silly jokes and hardly hilarious sequences are forcibly stuffed in its script to complete its first half which regrettably makes you take a look at your watch/phone at least 10 times.
Post intermission DESI BOYZ goes worst from bad with many bizarre kind of inclusions like Akshay taking admission to a College in his over-age. To give him company he even has a lady professor (Chitrangdha) who luckily was his own classmate in the good old college days. So here comes another beautiful lady to entertain you with her great looks, good for nothing. On the other side of this college romance, John is busy pleasing his girl by taking a shelter in front of her house with the help of her funny father. And frankly you can easily fast forward or edit out this unwanted part of the movie as it has nothing to contribute or entertain in any manner whatsoever.
To end it on an emotional note, a more weird kind of Courtroom scene is staged for the child's custody, wherein Sanjay Dutt enters as if its his own playground, gives a speech and then returns at his own will, while the honorable judge keeps waiting for him to come and go just like that.
In the acting department, instead of commenting upon their performance I would humbly like to ask a few questions from the cast as given below:
Akshay Kumar - Do you ever read the script of your movies and see the rushes midway to have an idea of what is being made around your reputed name for the countless fans? And Do you understand that we all are simply waiting for a BIG HIT coming from you from so long?
John Abraham - Why did you do this film or Was your role edited out at a later stage? Because frankly you are simply doing nothing in the film as per your current status or fame.
Deepika & Chitrangdha - The choice of project really doesn't match the off-screen intelligence and persona of both the ladies as they are not given much to do in the script apart from wearing some cool outfits. I had no great expectations from Deepika but 'Why you opted for this, Chitrangdha?', when you only had to enter post interval just to add some more glamour in the film or Was this also a shock for you after its release (The way they treated you in it)?
Anupam Kher & Sanjay Dutt – We would love to see you in some respectable and well written roles please!
Omi Vaidya – Avoid repeating the Chatur accent in every film as it will be great to see some new variation coming from you.
Direction wise, it evidently looks like a first attempt, but I would still like to congratulate Rohit for his hard work and efforts. However there is lot to learn and achieve for the young entrant and luckily he has got one of the best teachers in his own house as his father, David Dhawan.
In all, Who proves to be the Real DESI BOY here in the film? Its undoubtedly, PRITAM, the music director who at least gives us something to enjoy in this otherwise sheer waste of time. And the Soundtrack surely can be rated much better than the whole film itself.
So, is it watchable? Yes, you can watch DESI BOYZ, in case there is a delay in your train or flight and the bookstore at the station has left with only Biscuits to sell in the shop.