De Dana Dan

Priyadarshan's latest offering after the not-so-successful Billu, is Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif's De Dana Dan. Priyan has roped in the Hera Pheri Trio of Akshay Kumar - Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawal. Sadly, the magic is missing and De Dana Dan is easily one of the more forgettable slapstick comedies from the director.
Nitin (Akshay Kumar) is poor and works for Archana, a rich businesswoman. He and his friend Ram (Sunil Shetty) kidnap Archana's most prized possession, her dog. The dog turns out to be smarter, escapes and returns back home. The cops believe the victim of the kidnap is Nitin and the search begins.

At this point we are introduced to two dozen characters all under one roof in a Hotel, each with a confusion of his own. The comedy of errors begins.

The movie begins well with the kidnapping of the dog, but quickly turns into a tedious, unhumorous watch. The first half is lengthy, slow paced with confusions aplenty. Akshay-Paresh-Sunil never appears on screen together and Akshay shut safely into the cupboard for a good part of the second half would disappoint his fans. Ditto for Katrina Kaif who sizzles in the 'Paisa' song but is missing from the more important scenes.

The introduction of several new characters in the later half, their mistaken identities, cartoonish fights, exaggerated and loud dialogues is all a part of this silly Priyadarshan circus. The blast in the swimming pool and the water mayhem that follows is inspired from the Hollywood film 'The Towering Inferno' and deserves the 'Silliest scene of the year award' if at all there was one. Akshay is full of energy with good comic timing in the first half, but is hardly present in the second. Sunil Shetty hams. Katrina Kaif has a couple of songs, few dialogues. Neha Dhupia shines. Paresh Rawal, Johny Lever and Rajpal Yadav provide a bit of entertainment. Others put you to sleep only to be woken up by Archana Puran Singh's screeches.

To sum up, De Dana Dan is 175 minutes of sheer madness with extended special appearances by Akshay and Katrina. One of Priyadarshan's weakest film in recent memory.