Hindi
‘Humshakals’…Dumbshakals
MUMBAI: In Humshakals, Sajid Khan tries to do one better on the Royal bard, William Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s one of the earliest plays was Comedy Of Errors, a play about two sets of identical twins. That was a short play about mistaken identity. On a mistaken notion that he can do better than Shakespeare, Sajid makes a film about a set of three identical sets of people who are not related. They are not separated at birth twins or triplets; they are just identical. Having taken this suicidal step, Sajid goes on to create a comedy.
Sajid has had a successful debut and follow-up in his rise as a director of films from a standup comedian of a kind who regaled in running down film folks on TV. He had a great start with Heyy Babyy! Followed by Housefull and Housefull2. Disaster caught up with him soon after when he delivered a dud in the remake of 1983 Jeetendra hit, Himmatwala; he made the mistake of trying to better it.
This time he makes the mistake of trying to improve on Shakespeare and that is quite a task. Gulzar presented a fairly decent version of the Shakespeare story in Angoor in 1982 where he had the advantage of two among the best artistes playing lead roles in Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma.
Saif Ali Khan is Ashok and Riteish Deshmukh is Kumar, both childhood friends. Like Ashok is the ward of a Tata or Birla kind of family whose father is in coma and the business empire is left to him to handle. His hobby is to gather people over free drinks and tell them PJs. It does not matter that he is an heir to an empire, he still wants to be known as a standup comedian. Actually, if that has nothing to do with the film’s script thereafter, nothing or no sequence has relevance. Sajid Khan just tries to put together a feature film of 159 minutes together with whatever content he comes across, relevance being immaterial.
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Director: Sajid Khan. Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Tamannaah Bhatia, Esha Gupta, Satish Shah.111 |
Producer: Vashu Bhagnani.
So, Humshakals goes on to being one marathon jamboree of poor jokes, sick jokes, dated jokes and no jokes at all. And, the film is shot in UK where even the whites speak Hindi dutifully, an asylum has Indian attendants and doctors and it is India Raj in UK, a sort of payback for the British Raj in India.
If Angoor had great talents in Sanjeev Kumar and Deven Verma handling two roles each, here we have two limited actors in Saif and Riteish trying to better them with three each. Yes, not to forget Ram Kapoor. I mean, how many nails can you add to a coffin?
Till most of the first half, the film has one Saif and one Riteish after which another pair is added, both with same names and the third comes in the form of a villainous doctor’s handiwork who gives a face change to two of his assistants. Mercifully, the writer director are a easy with three Ram Kapoors, introducing them gradually.
What do these three humshakals do? They do buffoonery in the absence of scope for showing any histrionics. But, even in buffoonery, Satish Kaushik takes the cake as he excesses by all accounts as even Akash Khurana joins in at the end. The three girls, Bipasha Basu, Esha Gupta and Tamannaah Bhatia remain at the director’s back and call to make an appearance when he can’t think of anything else.
There is nothing such a script here but just an attempt to put together gags which, sadly, are dated and PJs. Direction is juvenile. Music is poor with no song carrying appeal. The use of foreign locations is not justified.
There is nothing that works for Humshakals and, this rather costly film, will be a big jolt for its investors.
Hindi
SC slams Neeraj Pandey over Ghooskhor Pandat title, orders rebrand
SC says film cannot release under current title, seeks new name by February 19.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India has delivered a stern reality check to acclaimed filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, directing a mandatory name change for his upcoming Netflix project, Ghooskhor Pandat. On Thursday, a bench comprising justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan made it clear that creative freedom does not grant a licence to denigrate specific communities.
The title, which translates to Bribe-taking Brahmin, sparked a firestorm of protest from groups arguing the name was a slur against the Brahmin caste. The court’s intervention has now pushed the production into a legal corner, requiring a complete rebranding before the film can be released.
The highlights of the hearing were the sharp observations made by the bench regarding modern filmmaking and social responsibility. Justice Nagarathna pointedly questioned the necessity of using provocative titles that could incite social friction.
“Being woke is one thing. But creating this kind of unrest when there is already unrest in the country… If you use your freedom to denigrate any section of society, we cannot permit it,” the justice remarked during the proceedings.
The court emphasized that the Constitutional principle of fraternity is just as important as the right to free speech. The bench suggested that filmmakers must be mindful of reasonable restrictions, especially when a title appears to target the dignity of a particular group.
Interestingly, this was not the filmmakers’ first encounter with the legal system over this project. Earlier in February, Netflix and Neeraj Pandey had already informed the Delhi High Court that they had made a conscious decision to change the title following the initial public outcry.
Despite this earlier admission, the Supreme Court felt it necessary to formalise the matter. The judges were firm that the film would not see a digital release under its original branding, expressing concern that equating a caste identity with corruption was a step too far for a diverse society.
“Why should any section of society be denigrated? We are not here to allow people to be insulted in the name of entertainment,” the bench noted, while issuing formal notices to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
Representing the makers, counsel for Pandey and Netflix clarified that the word “Pandat” was intended as a colloquial nickname for the lead character, a gritty police officer played by Manoj Bajpayee, rather than a commentary on the priesthood or the Brahmin community.
Regardless of the intent, the court has demanded a formal commitment. Neeraj Pandey has been directed to file an affidavit by 19 February 2026, proposing a new title and confirming that the film’s content does not defame any community.
With the original trailers and social media teasers already scrubbed from the internet, the film is currently in a state of creative redesign. The industry is watching closely, as this ruling sets a significant precedent for how streaming platforms handle sensitive cultural labels in India.
