We all remember the innocent fool superbly played by Vinay Pathak in "Bheja Fry". But the film was not an original concept as it was almost scene to scene lifted from the French comedy "Le Diner De Cons or The Dinner Game". Though it had some great performances from its entire cast but still its inspiration seems to be the main reason why the movie worked largely with the audience.
This was the first thought which came to my mind as I finished watching its sequel, with a simple reason that I didn't really feel entertained or having enjoyed my two hours spent with the same Vinay Pathak playing the lovable Hindi film songs fan and a Tax Inspector. The present original effort by its director Sagar Ballary comes out to be too timid and dwarf in front of the huge expectations raised by its title. In fact using the same title works against the movie this time as the viewer neither gets to see a little more foolishness in the Hit character of Vinay, nor there are enough entertaining sequences in the movie which can make you laugh or even smile. To be precise, there is nothing in its content justifying its title "Bheja Fry -2" other than the same actor repeating his role of Bharat Bhushan.
The film actually fails at many levels. It starts off as a story of a fake businessman Kay Kay and Vinay comes in a bit late and that too without any great gimmick planned by the director. The first half talks more about the business side of the characters and less of Vinay and his innocent foolishness. The entire sequence on the cruise could have been a laugh riot but falls flat in absence of any great comic writing. Post intermission as the focus shifts on Vinay and Kay Kay being left on a lonely island, boredom comes in and the narration becomes rather lengthy & uninteresting. Further the last moment introduction of Amol Gupte also fails to make any kind of impact on the audience.
Apart from its weak writing and unexciting direction the script also disappoints with its various characters. First of all the character of Suresh Menon replacing Ranvir Shorey in the original, doesn't work at all and one really misses Ranvir in the film most of the times. Suresh is no doubt good but without any great lines written for him in particular, he remains helpless. Secondly, Minnisha Lamba has nothing to do in the film other than taking care of its glamour part and she totally looks like a misfit. In fact there is not a single hilarious scene featuring Mininisha in the movie. Next, the side track of Kay Kay's troubled married life having Rukhsaar as his wife and Aditi Gowariker as his other interest simply wastes the presence of the ladies. And lastly I really found Amol Gupte playing the eccentric photographer living alone on the island and Virendra Saxena as the Chacha hugely disappointing.
However, Vinay Pathak as the famous fool once again delivers a quality performance which sadly doesn't get its much required back-up of an entertaining script. From his side he leaves no stones unturned to make it an enjoyable journey for the viewers. Kay Kay too, as his lonely companion on the island gives a fine performance but he really could have been a lot better with some more great one liners or dialogues. Thinking about the main plot of the movie, I strongly feel that had the director thought of a script revolving around the launch of A New Pop Album of Vinay Pathak by the music company of Kay Kay, then it could have been a different story altogether. But it seems that the writers suddenly forgot this enjoyable track after the first few reels and then simply went on to write on a different plot roaming around a deserted island. Also very surprisingly the song with which film's first look was introduced in the media, "Ishq Da Keeda" can be found no-where in the movie. Plus, another good song "Rahi Rahi" and its music video, is shown along the end credits of the film. And in my opinion that was really an absurd kind of promotional strategy adopted by its makers.
In all, Bheja Fry -2 more or less revolves around just Vinay and Kay Kay, which remains the weakest factor of the film. The script fails to involve all the other supporting characters in the script entertainingly and therefore it is not able to have a strong grip over its viewers. You can watch it if you are dying to see Vinay Pathak playing the famous fool once again but don't expect anything equivalent to what you have already seen in its original (but copied) first part.
Still it's undoubtedly a decent, clean & subtle comedy, better than many illogical Bazmee or Priyadarshan comic Hits.
