The story is as old as the hills: a rich woman on her deathbed, three sons who want to inherit everything at all costs, conmen who want to take advantage and… Bleargh.
But it’s written by Subhash Ghai! The man behind love stories like Hero and Pardes, and dramatic movies like Ram Lakhan, Karma, Meri Jung, Aitraz and more. Why then would he subject us to such a bad film? Why couldn’t he just let us believe in the legend that brought us Kalicharan, Taal, Vidhata and even Khalnayak. This film is just another of those sad attempts by old Bollywood giants to stay relevant.
Madhuri Bhatia - whom you saw as the snobbish foster aunt in Pardes - is Padmini Raj Singh in 36 Farmhouse. She is unwell and could die at any time. She has willed her 300 acres and the palatial home she lives in to her son Raunak Singh (played by Vijay Raaz). Now Raunak Singh’s brief for the movie must have been: you are a villain. So Vijay Raaz looks appropriately angry and mean in every scene.
The film starts with Vijay Raaz just whacking someone to death. Vijay Raaz doesn’t like the lawyer showing up late at night at the isolated farmhouse, claiming that the elderly, ailing matriarch has been detained in her own house against her own will. Not just that, the lawyer insists on meeting ‘rani sahiba now’ so he could give her a new copy of her will that is different from the one she has made before.
You’ve seen such thuggery since even before and after Ram Aur Shyam, you know, the ‘sign this or else’ threat… This is just a trope here that goes missing when the lawyer does. The two brothers and one wife have no concrete ‘or else’ plans. Before you facepalm, you are shown that it’s a lockdown and Jai Prakash (Sanjay Mishra) who is riding a truck with other labourers and workers gets thrown off the truck for being too talkative and insulting someone’s kid.
JP then hitches a ride to 36 Farmhouse (who names their farmhouse ‘Farmhouse’?!) by pretending he’s a bachelor cook and begins flirting with a female staffer Benny (played gamely by an ageless Ashwini Kalsekar). At first the flirting seems harmless, then it escalates into creepy rather quickly. Before you can say, ‘Where’s my barf bag?’ Vijay Raaz is talking to his brother’s wife on the phone who asks, ‘Bhaiyya boloon ki saiyyan?’ (This is too lowbrow to deserve a translation.)
JP’s son Hari also lands up at 36 Farmhouse in the company of Antara, the granddaughter of the house who loves her nani. Hari played by Amol Parashar too seems to be on a con, calling himself Harry, a designer who has worked with Manish Malhotra…JP and Harry pretend they don’t know one another…
Meanwhile, cops show up searching for the missing lawyer. (Really? The cops had that much time?) And there are working CCTV cameras everywhere on the road from wherever to the Farmhouse? And why is the girl who accompanies Vijay Raaz everywhere he goes in the house giving off proprietary vibes? Vijay Raaz treats Harry with deserved suspicion and disdain, but Antara (played by the sweet Barkha Singh) insists that he’s a guest and not a servant. There is romance there which seems like a forced thing and thankfully the song they sing (Bollywood romance must be celebrated with a song, yes?) is so banal, you wish Vijay Raaz would get rid of the two by whacking them both as well. After all, two more bodies can be buried anywhere in the 300 acres… But no, instead of a deliciously dark film, we have to suffer through a birthday party where Rani nani gives her family a lecture about… Well…Being a family. I was wondering who are the people on that Zoom call if her two sons and one daughter-in-law are already present? But many, many people have shown up at the Farmhouse (including an over the top, wannabe Leela Mishra - JP’s wife - Shantishree, played by Nivedita Bhargava)...
Horrendously tedious, no? The run time of this film is over two hours and it is labelled as a comedy. It isn’t. I call dibs to add ‘Exhausting’ as a genre of cinema.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
