Perhaps even more for a debut-making filmmaker, it is important to form a style that will be his leitmotif in the years to come. It is even to an extent permissible that in one’s earliest films, a director chooses to emulate his icon’s/guru’s/mentor’s filmmaking grammar before discovering or forming his own.

Rohit Dhawan, the debutant son of veteran David Dhawan (who himself was the Sultan of the Screwball and the Icon of Illogic, a la Manmohan Desai, his idol), however goes for a style that is more Karan Johar-esque, but spasmodically and inexplicably resorts to his dad’s formula. 

This flip-flop pizza-parantha union majorly dilutes the impact of the film as from a potentially very fresh and fulfilling entertainer it slithers down to the level of a decent one-time watch. Worse, the change in style happens for a few minutes but always at a crucially wrong moment.

But first, the story: Recession has struck. An investment banker in the UK named Nick Mathur (John Abraham) is engaged to be married to his girl, Radhika Awasthi (Deepika Padukone), when he loses his job. Classmate, inseperable buddy and always-unemployed Jignesh aka Jerry Patel (Akshay Kumar) comfortably lives off Nick, and is in a bigger soup. Devoid of educational qualifications, he will soon have to be separated from his orphaned kid nephew by the British Social Service as he cannot pay for the boy’s upkeep in boarding school. 

The buddies are at the end of their wits when an Indian man (Sanjay Dutt) who runs an illegal male escort business offers them easy and big money to turn male escorts. Jerry convinces a reluctant Nick, whose precondition is “No Sex,” and for a while, everything seems hunky-dory. But accidentally, Radhika comes to know the truth, and hurls her engagement ring at Nick. All his efforts to apologize and make her see reason are rejected, even though her gynecologist father (Anupam Kher) thinks that Nick deserves a second chance.

As the “Desi Boyz” (the name for the male escorts and their company) are exposed on YouTube, Jerry is also separated from the kid and Nick throws Jerry out in a rage. Jerry goes back to college and meets old admirer Tanya Mehra (Chitrangda Singh), his classmate who is now his teacher. Finally, he manages to get his degree, Radhika forgives Nick, the friends patch up, they get jobs and the kid’s back with Jerry. Jerry’s mother accepts Tanya as her bahu. But recession hits again. 

Riveting moments, emotionally-uplifting sequences, hilarious dialogues and spectacularly conceived songs (Pritam’s music scores high too) adorn the film. The camerawork (N. Nataraja Subramaniam) and production design are world-class and the background music pleasant. Deepika is outstanding while Chitrangda, who comes in post-interval, is easy on the eyes, though she finds herself stiff at dialogues delivery and is inhibited for her first mainstream film. Akshay Kumar looks as if 10 years have knocked off from his age — gone is the wizened look of his last many films. His performance, too, is far better than in years. His chemistry with John is superb, better than in “Garam Masala” (2005), and John is effortless. Anupam Kher is in form as always. 

So what’s the glitch? As we said before, for a “realistic” entertainer that also takes a look at the recession and its effects on jobs and lives, too many licenses are taken in the narrative at the wrong points: like how the heroes maintain their virginity after multiple assignments, the absurdly easy way in which Jerry gets readmitted in Trinity College (how does he manage the fees and his upkeep?), the ridiculous character of Omi Vaidya and the court sequence in the end, with the most ridiculous aspect being the testimony of the character played by Dutt. And what’s with the post-climactic twist? Was that meant to be funny, smart, dark or satirical? Sorry, Rohit, it was neither of these. 

Eros International’s and Next Gen Films’ "Desi Boyz"

Produced by: EROS INTERNATIONAL, NEXT GEN FILMS

Direction, story & screenplay: ROHIT DHAWAN

Music: PRITAM

Starring: AKSHAY KUMAR, JOHN ABRAHAM, DEEPIKA PADUKONE, CHITRANGDA SINGH, ANUPAM KHER, BHARATI ACHREKAR, MOHNISH BAHL Sp. app.: SANJAY DUTT