‘Yamla Pagla Deewana’ (2011) was the first comedy in which the three Deols (Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby) appeared together in. The success of the film encouraged them to come up with a sequel. ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana 2’, the sequel-in-spirit to the original, could not match up to the success of the original but the trio did not give up on the franchise and thought of reviving it by making another film. ‘Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se’, the third film in the franchise, has been helmed by Navaniat Singh who has a couple of Punjabi films to his credit as a director.
Puran (Sunny Deol) comes from a family of ayurvedic experts who invented a special medicine called Vajra Kavach which has extraordinary healing powers. Several big pharmaceutical companies in the past have tried to lure Puran into sharing the formula of the medicine but he refuses to part with it as he believes the medicine was invented to help people, be it rich or poor, selflessly. Kala (Bobby Deol) is of a different breed and is in a hurry to make a lot of money. Marfatia (Mohan Kapur), a business baron, gets in touch with Kala and asks him to help him settle a deal with Puran. This time, too, Puran refuses to sell the formula and it results in a major altercation between Marfatia and him. An enraged Marfatia vows to get even with Puran.
After watching the film, the first thing you end up wondering is whether this film was made two decades back and has been released today. Even it was made and released back then, it would have been impossible to take it seriously. The ill-conceived screenplay is replete with silly dialogue and unfunny gags that seldom make you laugh. There is a scene in the film in which Chikoo (Kriti Kharbanda) suggests an idea to get his troubling tenant Parmar (Dharmendra), she says he should throw his belongings out of the house and he will automatically move out of the house. He agrees to the idea and does the same. Who, in his right mind, would suggest an absurd like this? He film touches upon some interesting things like prohibition in Gujarat, cultural differences between Punjabis and Gujaratis but it fails to extract humour out of these tropes effectively.
Dharmendra is saddles with a role which limits his character to delivering silly lines and make weird faces. Sunny Deol acts ably. The action sequences, which seek to portray him as a larger-than-life man who can stop a truck with his bare hands, are dull and boring. Bobby Deol, in his revamped avatar since ‘Race 3’, puts in a sincere effort and manages to impress the most out of the three Deols. Kriti Kharbanda looks pretty and acts sufficiently well. Mohan Kapur gets to play a caricaturish villain but he does not disappoint as an actor. Shatrughan Sinha’s cameo fails to make an impact.
Two disappointments in a row – this one should be the last film in the franchise.