Movie Review: The Shaukeens

The story of three over-the-hill men with a bawdy eye, Shaukeens is a remake of the 1982 Hindi film. In the older version, the three old stooges were depicted as skirting a fine line between playful and crude. In this one, they are lecherous rascals with a bursting libido and a desperate roving eye.


(Image: The Shaukeen's Facebook Page)

KD ( Annu Kapoor), Laali ( Anupam Kher) and Pinky ( Piyush Mishra) are referred to as 'HKPs' (Hawas Ke Pujaris) throughout the movie. Goaded by the single and sexed-up KD, the trio decide to go on one last fling of fantasy to Mauritius.



(Image: The Shaukeen's Facebook Page)

During their tropical adventure, they come across nubile nymphet Aahana (Lisa), who rents them her apartment. She's just had a break-up, and her state of mind usually depends on the number of 'likes' she receives on Facebook.

Desperate to 'get some action', the oldies offer her their shoulders and paunches to cry on. Meanwhile, her favourite superstar Akshay Kumar (playing himself in a cool cameo), makes an entry and she tosses around the threesome to get up-close with AK.

Abhishek Sharma contemporises the old tale to feed the fetish of the FB generation (the oldies click 'selfies'). The original stays far superior, but this one does have some 'LOL' moments, backed with comical performances.


(Image: The Shaukeen's Facebook Page)
Some of the most uproarious ones coming from Akshay's self-parody (he's desperate to act in a Bengali filmmaker's art film, for a National award). Some of the humour is forced, the song placements often feel ad hoc and the climax lasts way too long.

In toto, this is no golden oldie, but not a complete embarrassment either.

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