‘Housefull 5’ review: A star-studded shipwreck

Fifteen years after the first Housefull movie hit screens in 2010, Housefull 5 arrives with the usual bluster and baloney—big stars, bigger sets, and a plot that makes no sense. In an unusual twist, the climax and the revelation of the killer aboard a luxury cruise liner differ depending on which version of director Tarun Mansukhani’s slapstick comedy you’re watching. But no matter which route you take, the destination remains the same: this film is a colossal waste of time and resources.

This fifth instalment of the famously chaotic comedy franchise is louder, glossier, and stacked with an even larger ensemble. You might struggle to name or remember the female characters, but the men are hard to miss. Franchise regulars like Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Chunky Panday (as Aakhri Pasta), Johnny Lever (Batuk Patel), and Ranjeet return, joined by new entrants Fardeen Khan, Jackie Shroff, Nana Patekar, Abhishek Bachchan (previously in Housefull 3), and Sanjay Dutt.

Taking the reins—or rather, the rudder—Mansukhani steers the film (based on a story by producer Sajid Nadiadwala and co-written by Farhad Samji) into even wilder territory. What we mostly get is confusion, a scattershot script, and cheap thrills at the expense of scantily clad female characters. The film juggles a cluttered mix of mistaken identities and a murder mystery set on a cruise ship where millionaire Ranjeet Dobriyal (Ranjeet) is celebrating his birthday.

But when Ranjeet suddenly passes away, his will declares Jolly, his son from his first wife, as his heir. His board of directors and Dev, Ranjeet’s son from his second wife, are left stunned and await the arrival of the unknown Jolly. Three men appear on the ship claiming to be Jolly. This sets off a spiral of insecurities, especially for Dev (Fardeen Khan). Suspicion mounts as the board members—played by Chitrangada Singh, Shreyas Talpade, and Dino Morea—also start behaving oddly. Into this chaos is a clumsy lawyer (Soundarya Sharma) dressed more for a beach party than a courtroom, the ship’s supersized captain (Nikitin Dheer), and three Jollys, each with their own foreign wife: Jalabuddin (Deshmukh) with Zara (Sonam Bajwa), Jalbhushan (Bachchan) with Sasikala (Jacqueline Fernandez), and Julius (Kumar) with Kaanchi (Nargis Fakhri).

As more mysterious murders occur, bumbling cops Baba (Jackie Shroff) and Bhidu (Sanjay Dutt) show up, followed by Nana Patekar as a dhoti-wearing super-cop in sneakers. The action pauses for large, colourful song-and-dance numbers that try to distract from the nonsensical plot. A few tracks—especially “Laal Pari” and Patekar’s “The Phoogdi Dance” Marathi house music remix with Kratex—bring brief energy, but it’s not enough.

The cast is indeed a full house. Akshay Kumar tries to inject his usual comic charm, and Riteish Deshmukh does his reliable best with reheated material. But the newer additions barely make a dent, and with such a bloated cast, no one really gets the spotlight—especially the women, who are largely ornamental. The glaring lack of chemistry among the actors only adds to the film’s hollowness.

Housefull 5 is louder, longer, and completely lost at sea.

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