The Shaukeens Review

Basu Chatterjee’s 1982 film ‘Shaukeens’ is an unconventional film to remake because it wasn’t a big hit at its time nor did it attain cult status after that. So when Tigmanshu Dhulia and Abhishek Sharma update it into ‘The Shaukeens’, your interest gets piqued. However, having Akshay Kumar in all the publicity mentions of the film is doing the viewer a disservice since he doesn’t have a big role to play. How has the second 80s remake of the year (after Khoobsurat) has turned out. Let’s find out.

Story: Frustrated with their lives, 3 lecherous friends – Connaught Place shoe store owner Lali (Anupam Kher), social worker KD (Annu Kapoor) and Chawri Bazaar masala merchant Pinky (Piyush Mishra) – plan a trip to Mauritius to have some fun. There they rent the house of Ahana (Lisa Haydon) a bohemian fashion designer who is the biggest Akshay Kumar fangirl. The three friends decide to use her love for Akshay to somehow coax Ahana into doing gross and sexual things for them. Of course, everything doesn’t go as planned. In the midst of all this, Akshay is shown to be in Mauritius shooting a film and awaiting a Bengali director. Akshay is convinced that doing a film with him will get him a National Award.

The screenplay by Tigmanshu and Abhishek Sharma takes the basic essence of Shaukeen and throws it away – the harmless charm of three old men at the autumn of their lives looking for some harmless fun. In ‘The Shaukeens’, the three men have been portrayed as creatures from lecherous hell who cannot look at any attractive woman without conjuring up sexual fantasies in their minds. Their escapades to squeeze that fun from their lives is tiring and after a point it even makes you angry at look at. What saves the film is Akshay Kumar and his caricature of his own image. Shahrukh Khan has been making fun of his image in his last few films and Akshay joins the bandwagon of making fun of himself! The direction by Abhishek Sharma is ordinary but he does show flashes of brilliance (example – in the scene where Piyush Mishra demonstrates Ape evolution).

The technical aspects of ‘The Shaukeens’ is above average and helps in maintaining the tone of the film. The cinematography is aided by the gorgeous locales of Mauritius. The fashion designer has done a good job and Lisa Haydon’s character gets a new layer because of the clothes she wears and the clothes she is supposed to have designed in the film. The music of The Shaukeens is good for its genre with the songs Alcoholic and Manali Trance catching the viewer’s attention and ear buds.

‘The Shaukeens’ unlike the original doesn’t delve into acting as the three main actors have been set up as mainly one dimensional unlikable characters. Anupam Kher seems to be enjoying his Mauritius vacation and Piyush Mishra is good in a handful of scenes. These two are not in form in ‘The Shaukeens’. Annu Kapoor is the only member of the trio who seems to have done something significant with his role and gets the part of a tharki old aged Delhi guy nailed. Lisa Haydon tries her best and does a much better job at commercial Hindi cinema than her last outing in Rascals (Queen cannot be called fully commercial). Akshay steals the film whenever he is in it. He gets the role right. It is like Akshay Kumar plays the role of Akshay Kumar from another universe. And boy does he have fun with it!

‘The Shaukeens’ could have made for some harmless family viewing which would have shown the escapades of three old horny men. Maybe it is the sign of the times that it is impossible for us to make a film about charged up old men without the viewer feeling remorse and anger for the characters. If not for Akshay, this film would have been a washout. Watch it only for Akshay!

Box Office: The Shaukeens will take a decent opening at the box office thanks to the large release and it remains to be seen if it shows any growth through the weekend.

Positives:

  • Akshay Kumar and Annu Kapoor
  • Costume Design
  • Music
  • Some Funny Gags

Negatives:

  • Bad characterization
  • Anupam Kher and Piyush Mishra are not in form
  • Direction doesn’t work except for 1-2 scenes
  • Misleading promotion

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

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39 Comments

  • I think indicine will agree with me, akshay may not be giving hits or breaking records but lately his performances have been nothing short of brilliant. even flop films like ouatm2 and entertainment he was the standout add that to s26 and holiday. To outshine act stalwarts like anupam kher and annu kapoor in comedy genre is great .we need to revive the career of these great actor indian audience in general because his the friend of all actor even when srk and ce team managed to push a side ouatimd he never said anything bad against srk, if any deserves respect and stardom it akshay.

  • At least better than the 3 Hrs torture of HNY. Still Shaukeens is not recommended for big screen viewing. You can catch it up on television in a few months.

  • So, you rated it lower than hny 4stars?? Good, expected from you!
    So, you included the so-called misleading promotion in the negative factors of the film. Nonsense!
    So, for you, the promotions of hny that called the movie ‘grand heist’ properly leading????

  • Best of luck for your exams Babaji Ka Thullu! Hope u cross 200 crores n have all time blockbuster level exams! :P

  • datz y I like akshay.
    shahrukh n akshay are quite simlar.
    they are self made.. neva hesitate in making fun of their ownselves… ultimately wants their audience to get entertained n are experimental.hope shaukeens become a decent grosser

  • @Indicine
    The Shaukeens ko two stars denese HNY 200cr nahi kama legii…?
    btw The Shaukeen will emerge winner at end of day…?

  • 4 stars for Non sense comedy film with Leave your brains at good tag & 2 stars for a cult comedy film.!!!

    This is the standard of our critics now days…

    Overhyping films,Huge promotions,Fake praise(In a review a site said Farah Khan is Manmohan Desai of new era LOL)

    At the end 30crs+ manipulation in collections.
    Bollywood is going in down year by year…someone please save bollywood unless a day will come when people may stop going in theaters for watching films.

  • very true .. here again indicine manipulating… giving bad reviews to help hny pull along

    agreed the film must be a bore but not once has indicine ridiculed hny even after people and real critics like me ripped it apart and then the world did..

    not once did indicine open a thread about the negative wom of hny

    now also it has smashed shaukeens out but wait a sec… the superstar in the movie should be visited!!

    so you see never belitteling the mega star who they claim hardly has a role and we should watch the film for his 10 mt role!!

    how ridiculous can you get indicine???

    and then happily giving 2 stars to an already b-c class film !! how is that unexpected??

    indicine is actually a misfit site for reviewing any film!!

  • @megha one suggestion for u-stick to bragging about ur Hollywood cult classics like million dollar arm.Bollywood and indians dont need advice from u.v rnot making films to please frustrated souls like u but to entertain ppl who hv a clean heart and tok with some sense

  • lol…dis site is taking der own review statment seriously “leaving your brains at home”..nice work indicine

  • Happy to see hatets acc burning… their nights r sleepless bcz a nonsense crap film is doing above 200cr… badly need sm burnol stuff..lol

    And best of luck for akshay… 60 cr is too more.. if akshay film collect 30 cr i still say he is far far better than riksha wala and alian air tingu….

    AKshay and Srk rocksss…

  • Happy to see haters ace burning… their nights r sleepless bcz a nonsense crap film is doing above 200cr… badly need sm burnol stuff..lol

    And best of luck for akshay… 60 cr is too more.. if akshay film collect 30 cr i still say he is far far better than riksha wala and alian ear tingu….

    AKshay and Srk rocksss…

  • Wow @indicine ur reviews are so ridiculous
    U gave a average movie HNY 4 stars
    One of worst sequel Dhoom 3 4 stars
    And only 2.5 stars to one of the best movie of the year Holiday..

    And The shaukeens is good movie a laughter riot
    3 stars from me

  • come on man indicine. if you can give 4 stars to happy new year then what’s wrong with shaukeens. your credibility has taken a dent after the review of happy new year.

  • @saurabh: hny underperformed but still do 210cr plus n srk will make a storng come back with fan but after the disaster performance of bang bang which collect less than yjhd n mohengedaro will also collect less than yjhd n ranbir next bv, jj do 200cr n tamasha will do 275cr, khans=ranbir>>>hr

  • disappointed with ur review indicine.giving 4 stars to crappy new year becoz it stars srk and at the same time giving 2.5 to one of the best of 2014 holiday.don’t understand on what basis u give ur rating.can’t comment on shaukeen coz I ve not seen it.

  • @mega iam also upset about hny review because I believe at most it should have been 3*, but I don’t think you have right to bash indicine for that and these is completely different movie where a lot people expected to be cult including me.and if you read all reviews they seem to agree on one thing and that is akki is the scene stealer.

  • @indicine, you are such a biased website. you showed your true colours. 4 stars for stupid nonsense films like kick and hhny but only 2 stars for the shaukeens which is something fresh and new ?? the height of stupidity and partiality is sky high. stop overrating the khans. no matter how bad film they will make, you will give them no less than 4 stars. HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED !

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