Unsung Studboys: Himesh Reshammiya in Madhushala (Damadamm!)

All hail King HR. The almighty. You lesser beings stand to one side and make way for the man!
Himesh Reshammiya in the house y’all!

Now this is one movie where I was spoilt for choice as to what song to bring forward for your viewing pleasure! A 2011 film by Swapna Waghmare Joshi, director of highly popular serials ‘Teen Bahuraniyaan’ and ‘Kalash’. Don’t remember? Well, neither does she! In fact, she did not even dare to make another movie after this one!

The trailer of the movie states:

And when they say SMILING, they mean SMILING!

The ‘Damadamm!’ with an exclamation mark at the end is with good reason. Himesh Reshammiya plays an incredibly happy man called Sameer who walks like Hrithik Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon Roshan and talks like Shraddha Ek Villain Kapoor!

So Mr Happy is a superhit Hindi film associate distribution head (with a recent successful blockbuster called Bhakton Se Jab Kaam Pade to his credit!) whose only problem in life is his super-possessive, super-suspicious girlfriend Crazy Banshee Shikha (played by Purbi Joshi; yes, of the Comedy Circus fame!). His actual problem in life is the short bit from the song Umrao Jaan which is his ringtone throughout the film with the lines:

‘No touching, no touching
Only seeing, only seeing’

No kidding. Yes, it plays again and again and AGAIN until you want to just grab that phone and stuff it down his throat and then flush him down the toilet.

Moving on, Short Dress Sanjana (Sonal Sehgal) is the boss’ sister and new girl in office whom Mr Happy gets close to while Crazy Banshee is away in Indore for a wedding. Long story short, Mr Happy and Crazy Banshee break up due to obvious reasons. Short Dress’ brother asks Mr Happy to marry her. Why? Who the heck cares. Mr Happy agrees after a lot of THINKING. But he wants things to be slow so slow they get. The marriage newsflashes across office and reaches Crazy Banshee. Crazy Banshee goes to Mr Happy’s house to congratulate him and meanwhile transforms into Nice Banshee and tells him a sob story of how she became Crazy Banshee. And then leaves after saying ‘let’s be friends’.

Meanwhile his buddy/Manager Weirdo Wannabe Playboy Umesh (Ashwin Dhar) is convinced Nice Banshee is just playing the game to win Mr Happy back and advises him to act all mushy with Short Dress is front of Nice Banshee to see her reaction. But Nice Banshee obviously does not give a fuck anymore and suddenly Mr Happy is all bummed and confused and wants her too. In a drunk, perplexed, confused state of mind, Mr Happy aka HR has this song play in the portals of his (no) mind.

In a dockyard where people pretending to be yuppy teenagers pretend to make out in the background, a random chick gives the camera a walking tour singing:

Camera pans to Himesh.

Of course, he is totally Capping this one! NOSE-diving right into the song (excuse the HR puns littered across this post!), it begins with a serious looking HR staring at the ground singing and suddenly going violently nasal and violently happy (Yes, very CAPricious, this man) singing:

‘Tere jism ki khushboo main
Aankhon ki madhushala main
Kabhi aar gaya kabhi paar gaya
Kabhi aar gaya kabhi paar gaya
Kabhi aar gaya kabhi paar gaya
Kabhi aar gaya kabhi paar gaya’

Yes, four times. No sweat! Told you! Still in a dockyard where people pretending to be yuppy teenagers still pretend to make out in the background.

Quick change and suddenly everybody is jumping around like mad and singing ‘Madhushala mein khoya’ 546 times, trying to take the song, the dance, indeed the movie, seriously, but to no avail!

Now this song, rather, this entire film, is pathbreaking and revolutionary for a lot of reasons. HIMESH RESHAMMIYA is being wooed by two decently hot women. Himesh Reshammiya is being WOOED by two decently hot women. And more importantly, Himesh Reshammiya is being wooed by TWO decently hot women. And before I forget, Himesh Reshammiya is being wooed by two decently HOT WOMEN!

With music by none other than HR himself (duh!), this song has incredibly intense lyrics by Sameer:

‘a love that is pure
a love that makes you soar/sore
It’s Ishq unplugged’

In my post on Haathon Mein Aa Gaya Jo Kal (watch it here) I had talked about how lyricists are becoming increasingly more sensitive to stupid people. And repeating lines for their benefit. And choreography. Now this song takes this altruism to a whole new level. This song repeats, lines, steps, repeated lines, sequences. Everything! Just in case you did not get it the first time.

‘Madhushala mein khoya madhushala mein
Madhushala mein khoya madhushala mein’

And then

‘Madhushala mein khoya
Madhushala mein khoya
Madhushala mein khoya
Madhushala mein’

No kidding. And the steps:

The babes enter the scene and he cuddles up to both trying to act incredibly cute. Fun fact: he is at least two inches shorter than both of them so he is literally stretching every last millimetre of his limbs to reach their level.

Quick change again. Everybody is in hippy/gypsy Indian clothes with a harmonium and all.

At this crucial juncture, let us all observe a moment of silence now for HR’s cleavage:

Moving on, the song ends with the same random lady walking towards the screen in wrapping paper clothes singing the lovely English lyrics that made 457 poets turn in their graves with its brilliance (repeated here, only for you!):

‘a love that is pure
a love that makes you sore
It’s Ishq unplugged’

And all you fans rejoice! This film’s soundtrack is a treat for all you fans of gut-wrenching poetry.

In a song called ‘MANGO’, the announcer introduces Himesh Bhai saying:
‘Ladies and gentlemen here’s presenting a philosophical research that has been conducted on mangoes, incorporating in it romance, humour and fun. Please give it up for Sameer..’

Which is incidentally also the name of the lyricist for real! So give it up for Sameer, who en-cap-sulates life’s philosophy in one extraordinary song:

‘Life with its ups n downs seems so beautiful
Story of relationships seems so colorful
Jab tum jaati ho
I miss you baby like mango
Tere intezar mein
No apples no tango…. Mango’

And the amazing wannabe rock song I Need My Space, where Himesh goes around annoying the c(r)ap out of perfectly innocent people singing:

‘I need my space
I want freedom
I need my space
I want freedom
Freedom freedom
Freedom freedom’

Film-making hits new levels of epic with Damadamm!Watch it. I dare you!

Featuring:
Himesh Reshammiya
HR
HR as Sameer
Himes Bhai
Himesh’s cleavage
Musical Hit Machine
The HR

 

‘We Wish You A Great Life’ from Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage

After the tsunami of Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, ‘Rohit’ is back to blow your mind with Aap Mujhe Achche Lagne Lage. From the name, the look, the feel, you might think this is a Sooraj Barjatya film. Or a Rakesh Roshan one! But SURPRISE! From the director of Raaz comes this very special film!

Now if you haven’t seen this film you should probably go jump off the cliff immediately. But that apart, this song might leave you dumbfounded and lost, and not just because of the way it is written. And so here’s a short recap! Well, behenji rich girl Sapna (Amisha) meets dude boy Rohit (duh, Hrithik!). Hrithik Christiano Ronaldo Roshan is a total stud who is the cool guy in college and his opening scene is a football match where he takes the ball single handedly from one side of the field to the other dodging every player with no assists wearing uncomfortably short shorts.

Also, he scores all the goals for his team and makes them win. And he ALSO defends. Bro, if this shit was on our Indian football team then aaj story hi kuch aur hoti. But sigh.

So it’s love at first sight for Rohit and love at first fight for Sapna. Also featuring the most epic falling in love expression ever seen in Indian cinema:

Girl’s father is a Gujju don control freak (Kiran Kumar) and the brother is deadly don son Vasooli Bhai from Golmaal.

Both are maniacs who don’t let her breathe, eat, sleep, or even go to her friend’s wedding without their permission. Sapna’s purpose in life is to get married to Rohit and so she goes through the movie all dressed for a wedding. Coz you always need to be prepared!

Sapna runs away with Rohit leaving Gujju Don and Vasooli Bhai going bat shit crazy baying for their blood! And guess where Rohit decided to hide his lady love! The boys’ hostel! Because who would think of looking for her there, right?

They sincerely believe they will be able to hide one dumb girl in that hostel full of boys but she ends up screaming and running across the hostel letting everyone know she has arrived *facepalm*.

Hostel boys are furious that Rohit is putting their lives in danger and even an emotional little dialogue from the hero does not move them. But then Sapna steps in with a tearful speech about her sad life and even sadder wardrobe due to which she had to borrow the hero’s clothes and the boys melt into puddley poo.

And so this song is the celebration song from the Hostel Boys to Behenji and Dude wishing them a Great Life…

And themselves too! Coz the Great Life extends to them: getting a free cook, laundry-girl, cleaner without the headache of a girlfriend or the wallet-pain of a maid! Which is exactly what the song starts with: them dumping all their dirty laundry and meal orders on her. But she comes cheap. A flying kissie from her bae gets her going!

They run around singing, dancing, playing basketball, tug-of-war and doing other miscellaneous stuff across the campus without the Principal noticing of course!

The music is by our very own Mr Rajesh Roshan and these pathbreaking lyrics are by Dev Kohli, the phenomenal man behind the lyrics of equally stunning songs such as Haila Haila from Koi Mil Gaya, Mr. Lova Lova from Ishq, Chocolate Lime Juice from Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and *drumroll* Yeh To Sach Hai Ki Bhagwan Hai from Hum Saath Saath Hain! Applause please!

The lyrics do not beat about the bush at all and come straight to the point:

‘—MALE—
I promise you a great life
I want you to be my wife
–CHORUS–
Life life
–MALE–
Wife wife
–CHORUS–
Life life
–MALE–
Wife wife’

This is something we more evolved folks call ‘unpretentious poetry’. You lay people will not understand. Now stop making fun of it. Hmph!

And because she is a nice, sweet, adorable girl, she makes it a point to put in a proper Acknowledgements right at the very beginning:

‘Thank you thank you thank you
Sandy, Madhu, Chintu
Thank you for great life’

There is some fabulous choreography on display in this song of course:

And yes, the Principal/Guard/Random Authority Figure only makes it a point to check the premises for five seconds at night. Because that is what happens at engineering colleges across the country. True story.

Rohit is brimming with love and finds the dumb behenji lady incredibly endearing. Obviously.

Then follows the greatest special effects sequence of Amisha Patel’s career:

Though why anyone would need to show a scene with random guys prancing around as special effects is a question that even God would apply a facepalm to.

And there is the stars, the night sky, the firecrackers, all CGI love!

And some more brilliant choreography:

Sapna chills with the back benchers slobbering all over Rohit’s hand, dances with all of them in the chemistry lab and the college grounds and the classroom and the hallways, AND NOBODY SEES! What college is this, pray!

The song ends with a group shot of all these lackeys with the happy couple. Yes, they gather the entire student body on the college premises and manage to click a group shot with a girl with no college faculty showing up and hauling them up

No moral speeches here. To those other unfortunate souls who had to sit through any part of this movie like me, wishing you a great life! Ok Tata!

Featuring
‘Kyaaunki meri shaakl Rohit se milti hai’
Kaho Na Pyar Hai Hangover
Shittiest College Administration/Security EVER
Most Predictable Rhymes EVER
… and…
Token Sardar Friend

P.S. One last dance to end! Ok you can kill me after this one!

 

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