Director: Sangeeth Sivan
Cast: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Neha Sharma, Kristina Akheeva, Johnny Lever and Anupam Kher
It’s hard to take a film seriously when one of its lead characters is a man in a monkey (orang-utan) suit. And he’s double teaming with Dharmendra in the song Yeh dosti hum nahi todenge from Sholay. It’s even harder when one of the female leads is half-Russian; half-Tajikastani brought up in Australia but is supposed to be Punjabi. That would be Kristina Akheeva, who plays Sunny Deol’s love interest. And whatever happened to all the female characters from Yamla Pagla Deewana? Sunny Deol was married with kids. So was Dharmendra. But their better halves cease to exist in the second film. Talk about cinematic liberties.
The story of the film though picks up where the first one left off. Dharmendra and Bobby Deol continue playing the father-son conmen who dupe people in Banaras. Sunny Deol as the elder son Parminder has moved to England where he’s a collection agent for a bank. He looks up to the sky and talks to God. On many occasions. And the best part is, God replies with a bell dong. He’s also under the misconception that his father and half-brother have mended their ways. Since the women from the first film have been given an ouster, Neha Sharma and Kristina enter the scene as half-sisters and love interests for the leading men.
The plot developments in YPD2 are as wonky and hare-brained as you’ve seen in any recent run-of-the-mill comedy. You’re better off disassociating any hope of logic. Just believe that movies were never meant to have legitimate reason in the story. And it’s okay for an Indian man in England to have blonde hair, a private army and ambitions of building a mall in space. That would be Anupam Kher playing Joginder Armstrong aka Dude the chief antagonist of the story. And while we’re at it, the man in a monkey suit can paint like Picasso.
Amidst all its blunder and mess, YPD2 gets two things right. The first is Sunny Deol’s performance. He’s a Super Sardar in the movie. He’s continuing where he left off in Border, Gadar and YPD. He can beat up an army all alone. Only this time he has a supersonic roar, he massacres a whole legion of Ninjas, battles gigantic Sumo wrestlers and lifts a goddamn truck with one hand. The self-depreciating humour and parody with Sunny is hilarious. The other good thing is the use of a painting as a humour motif. Everyone seems to break into tears of disbelief and awe on seeing this painting. Funny thing is, it’s painted by the man in the monkey suit, while he’s piss drunk and has used his bum as a paint brush.
The less we talk about everyone else’s performance the better. If you watch this sketchy film, be advised. Do not, under any circumstance, take your brains along.
