Daddy Cool: Movie Review

Film: Daddy Cool (Comedy)
Cast: Suneil Shetty, Javed Jaffrey, Aaftab Shivdasani, Ashish Choudhary, Rajpal Yadav, Kim Sharma, Aarti Chabria, Tulip Joshi, Sophie Choudhry
Director: K Murli Mohan Rao
Duration: About 120 minutes

Everything seems to be borrowed in Daddy Cool. The film's title is taken from a Boney M number that everyone jived to in the 1980s and which is rather carelessly inserted in an uninspiring track.

And much of the film is a photocopy of Death at a Funeral, a zany 2007 comedy recently doing the rounds on a movie channel.

What works partially in the movie's favour is its high-pitched, manic energy. Director K Murli Mohan Rao doesn't really let the pace slacken in the first half though a readymade template would have simplified his life.

There's a scene that pretty much sums up the movie's mood. One of the characters, played by Jaffrey, lifts his paralysed uncle Murphy (Prem Chopra) and tries to make him sit on the commode. The foul-mouthed uncle is desperate to ease his bowels. Accidentally, Jaffrey's hand gets stuck in the contraption and Murphy ends up letting it out on his unfortunate hand. It is gross, asinine and immensely funny.

The movie's whacky ensemble includes a struggling writer (Shetty) who is bullied by his wife, a character whose wife suspects he is sleeping around and a cousin whose boyfriend (Aftab) has mistakenly taken hallucinogenic pills. But none of them are as interesting or intriguing as the pint-sized stranger (Rajpal Yadav) who walks in and lovingly fondles the coffin. It is his disclosures that lead to a situational comedy that leaves you with half a smile after the show is over.

The movie has some moments of originality too. The coffin is brought by a company called Coffin with Karan. For some strange reason, the pocket-sized gay is named Andrew Symonds, physically the exact opposite of the Australian cricketer. But nothing is more eye-popping than Sophie Choudhry running in a bikini on the beach in slow motion. Even Usain Bolt would have found it hard to match her big and bouncy strides.