Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se: A Dreadful Drama by the Deols

Cast: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Satish Kaushik, Shatrughan Sinha and Kriti Kharbanda.

Rating: 0.5/5

There is one dialogue in the film where Sunny Deol says, “Humse yeh naatak-vaatak nahi hoga” and that’s the bitter reality. The Deols should have understood this and taken into consideration while filming. It would have saved crores of money, time and lots of criticism.

‘A bad film’ is quite common in Indian Cinema, but there have been instances where we have come across films which are appalling. They come with a bright hope of entertaining the audience, but the sheer lack of sense leaves behind a bleak hope of making anything at the box office. One such film is Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se, starring the Deol trio – Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby. And, oh! What a shame the film is.

Puran Singh (Sunny Deol) runs a proud generations-old davakhana, and has the formula a treatment named Vajrakawach. No one can match the potential of this ayurvedic preparation, which is the solution to many medical needs. Puran lives with his brother Kaala (Bobby Deol) and takes care of him like his own child. Jaywant Parmar (Dharmendra), a lawyer by profession, is both their neighbor and a guardian. On knowing about the benefits of this treatment, Marfatia, a pharmaceutical giant, becomes restless and keen to know the formula. He uses his wicked mind and ways to procure the same and successfully does. He develops a drug and patents the same. Puran is stunned by this move, and it also disturbs Kaala and Parmar. The trio then takes this to court and fights for justice (which they eventually seek. They win the case and get the rights back to the formula).

You may wonder why I revealed the climax, but believe me, it is for your own good. At the end of a tiring 147-minute film, there is a short lecture on how we Indians do not take Ayurveda seriously and why we should opt for the same. To be honest, this is true, but only for the moment where, after the film, you shall need some sort of a medication to calm your senses as an audience.

Absolutely nothing is good in the film. There are poor references scripted in an attempt to make one laugh. It has cliché stereotypical hype about Punjabis and Gujaratis, scenarios comparing their lifestyle and alcoholic habits, an old man (Jaywant) flirting with judge and assuming to live with fairies, usual gimmick of Sunny Deol's strength, referring a beautiful girl to strawberry, poor product placement and marketing (by Indigo airlines and SaReGaMa), and countless others. To add to all of this, ridiculous dialogues like Punjab mein raat ko fight karte hain, aur subah invite karte hain, Kab peele honge kaale ke haath, Tu search mein tha, yeh research ke liye aa gayi, Billa as in Male Cat, and every other sentence in the film, makes the experience worse.

This film has every emotion and it oscillates from stupidity to melodrama, but one thing remains constant throughout is the terrible performance. For once, you can blame the writing, but that would be unfair as the actors have contributed equally bad in the film. It is appalling to see legends like Dharmendra, Satish Kaushik & Shatrughan Sinha agreeing to be a part of such futile attempts in cinema.

This one is unbearable. For sure you can give it a miss in the theatres, but do consider switching channels if it comes on Television. Remember, both your time and money are precious!