Anything is better than Mastiii 4, sighs Mayur Sanap.
I hate to admit it, but I was curious about Mastiii 4.
A recent tweet by Director Milap Zaveri defended the film with a claim that women have a ‘strong role’ in this new instalment of the sex-comedy franchise.
Given that this series is notorious for its ageist, sexist, and misogynistic humour, I hoped the new chapter might finally reinvent itself to match today’s audience sensibilities.
But it took me barely 10 minutes to realise that Mastiii 4 is just as offensive, random, disposable and forgettable as its predecessors.
Worst of all, it isn’t funny!
As for the director’s claim of a strong female perspective, it’s the same performative progressiveness he showcased in Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat.
And with that, Mastiii 4 fits neatly alongside it in the growing catalogue of terrible films directed by Milap Zaveri.
The Masti films have always been vacuous and stupid, but the first part that came about 20 years ago was pretty harmless fun.
Zaveri, who also wrote the first Masti back in 2004, joins the original trio of Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi and Aftab Shivdasani for this fourth go-around, with the actors returning as Amar, Meet and Prem.
The new set of wives is portrayed as low-IQ, clingy caricatures who constantly irritate their husbands and leave them perpetually annoyed.
Elnaaz Norouzi plays Bindiya, a suspicious and self-centred wife, who pauses mid-argument to fix her smudged lipstick.
Shreya Sharma plays Aanchal, an overly emotional woman who wears an ‘I love my husband’ T-shirt with his picture printed on it.
Ruhi Singh is Geeta, the overly religious one who celebrates Gokulashtami, Eid, and Easter.
From the names and traits of these female characters, it is clear this instalment is aggressively more of the same as the first Masti.
Just when it seems like the new film couldn’t get any worse, Mastiii 4 manages to underperform its predecessors in every possible way.
The men then take advice from a wealthy tycoon named Kaamraaj (Arshad Warsi, in a ludicrous guest appearance), who introduces them to the concept of a ‘Love Visa’. It’s a verbal permission they must obtain from their wives to fool around for one week, every year.
He even presents his ‘proof’ in the form of his glamorous wife (Nargis Fakhri, who appears visibly uncomfortable throughout), claiming this bizarre arrangement is the secret to their happy marriage.
From there, the three leads stumble into a series of shenanigans that inspire more facepalms and yawns than chuckles, backed by a script that feels hastily put together by Zaveri and his co-writer Farrukh Dhondy.
There’s no surprise how lazy and pointless Mastiii 4 is, but its biggest problem is the noticeable lack of energy, both in the way the jokes are written and in how Deshmukh, Oberoi, and Shivdasani deliver them.
Deshmukh plays a zookeeper who proudly calls himself a ‘Master Mater’ because he helps the zoo animals mate.
In his introductory scene, he is dressed in a lioness costume, trying to lure the lion toward the real lioness to get him aroused.
What could go wrong goes wrong, and it’s all downhill from there.
There’s plenty of crude vulgarity, which is expected for this genre, but it’s executed with such flatness that it feels aimless and desperate, even by the film’s low standards.
The tiring parade of jokes plays out like a bad sitcom, full of nothing but puerile gags.
Sample this: One character slaps another and explains, ‘Macchhar tumhara khoon chus raha tha.’
This already limited comic imagination is made worse by awkward performances from the entire cast, who seem to be half-heartedly improvising.
It is a textbook example of how not to make a sex comedy, or any film, for that matter.
The result is mostly boredom for the audience, and the walkouts at my screening were a clear sign that this comic ramble simply isn’t worth the time.
At one point, I found myself paying more attention to the people leaving than to the film itself. Watching them exit was oddly satisfying, if only I had the same liberty.
Take my word: Literally, anything is better than this!
Mastiii 4 Review Rediff Rating:
