Movie Review: Abs and biceps ahoy in Desi Boyz!

Desi Boyz is a fairly easy-on-the-eye film, with a couple of good songs thrown in. And thankfully, it’s devoid of twisted complications. Best friends and roommates, Nick Mathur (John Abraham) and Jignesh Jerry Patel (Akshay Kumar) - based in London are badly hit by the recession. Nick is fired from his corporate job and Jerry always seems to get fired. He just can’t seem to hold down a job, whether it is being a security guy at a mall or a counter guy at a burger joint. With mounting bills and no luck whatsoever finding jobs, the two are compelled to turn to Desi Boyz, a male escort club service, run by Sanjay Dutt, to make some money and a lot of noise among the female population. [caption id=“attachment_140274” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“You feel like a beauty pageant judge, watching the two flash those fab abs. Raju Shelar/Firstpost”]  [/caption] In their Rocco and Hunter avatars, Akshay and John – two of Bollywood’s fittest men look the part of male escorts/strippers and are huge hits, but they aren’t exactly Chippendale dancers! You feel like a beauty pageant judge, watching the two flash those fab abs and it’s a tough one to call on whose toned torso is better, but I’d have to say Akshay’s physique most definitely! The ensuing drama that follows in a bid to keep his Hunter avatar a secret from his high maintenance girlfriend, Radhika Awasthi (Deepika Padukone) and Rocco from staying afloat financially to keep his orphaned nephew, Veer, from going into foster care is what the film is fundamentally about. Rocco aka Jerry even goes back to college to make a better, more stable life for Veer and himself. His smoking hot Economics professor, Tanya Sharma played by the beautiful Chitrangada Singh, makes sure he goes from an F grade to an A with a little bit of strip-teaching thrown in. The Salsa club sequence where Tanya turns her smoldering charms on Jerry is fabulously done. And the line – Pehle main moti aur bechari thi, now I am sexy and powerful leads to some more sensual flirting on the dance floor. Chitrangada and Akshay make an extremely good looking couple and complement each other rather well. Omi Vaidya, in a special appearance as lawyer Ajay Bapat, is hilarious! The film does not have a very engaging comic track, though some scenes are funny. Sanjay’s cleverly written lines in the film elicit whistles and claps every time he is on. For instance, when Anupam Kher, a retired gynaecologist, who plays Deepika’s father in the film asks Sanjay at a party, “Aapki tareef” Sanjay retorts with a nonchalant, “Ki nahi jaa sakti, bahut time lagega.” Desi Boyz is 27-year-old Rohit Dhawan’s first film as a director. He is filmmaker David Dhawan’s son and his directorial style, though influenced by his father’s super hit comedies, finds its own space in the more restrained and realistic comic vein. The film doesn’t really cut it as a comedy and the storyline is a tad weary. One of John’s lines in the film, “Ye biceps ke siway hamare paas hai hi kya” pretty much sums up the film. Akshay Kumar plays all three - Jignesh, Jerry and Rocco superbly. John Abraham is earnest and Deepika Padukone does more than just justice to her glamourous outfits in the film. Chitrangada Singh is fabulous in her performance in her first ever commercial feature film. She does glam as ably as she did real.