Housefull

 

Housefull is a 2010 Indian Hindi, Urdu-language comedy film directed by Sajid Khan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, loosely based on the 1998 Tamil drama Kaathala Kaathala. The dialogues were done by Anvita Dutt, while Nadiadwala wrote the storyline and Rameshwar S. Bhagat served as the editor. It became the first installment of the Housefull franchise.

The film stars Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Riteish Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Arjun Rampal and Jiah Khan. The supporting cast consists of Boman Irani, Chunky Pandey, Randhir Kapoor, Lillete Dubey and Malaika Arora, with Jacqueline Fernandez featured in an item number. It was shot across London and Italy on a budget of ₹38 crore (US$5.3 million). The film marked the last screen appearance of Jiah Khan, who died three years after its release on June 3, 2013.

The film was released worldwide on April 30, 2010, to mixed critical reviews, in over 750 screens in India. Nevertheless, it proved to be a commercial success. The film grossed over ₹124.50 crore (US$17 million) at the worldwide box office and was declared a super hit. It emerged as the fifth highest earning Bollywood film of 2010 only behind Dabangg, Golmaal 3, Raajneeti and My Name Is Khan according to its net collections of ₹75 crore (US$11 million) domestically. The film went on to spawn three spiritual sequels–Housefull 2, Housefull 3 and Housefull 4–released in 2012, 2016 and 2019 respectively.

 

Plot

The story follows Aarush, a 'panauti' (an unlucky person), who works in a casino and gets money as people lose games of poker. After being rejected from getting married by Pooja, a girl who he dearly loves, he then gets punched by her elder brother telling him to keep away from her. Aarush goes to London to stay for some time with his best friend, Bob and his wife, Hetal, both working at a casino owned by Kishore Samtani. Although at first Hetal is displeased with Aarush's presence, he proves to be a kind-hearted man looking for a family. Bob and Hetal decide to get him married to their boss' daughter, Devika Samtani. After the marriage, on their honeymoon in Italy, Devika leaves him for her longtime American boyfriend Benny. Aarush decides to commit suicide by drowning in the sea but is saved by a Telugu girl, Sandy, who he kisses when she tries to make him breathe by giving him mouth to mouth.

Sandy originally thinks Aarush is a pervert but when Aakhri Pasta, the owner of Italy's "biggest" hotel where Aarush was spending his honeymoon with Devika, tells Sandy that Aarush is a widower as a joke and his wife died the day of their honeymoon, she befriends him and slowly falls in love with him. What she doesn't know is that Aakhri Pasta was only joking. Aarush calls Bob and Hetal to Italy telling him about the entire situation. Sandy then tells them that they helped Aarush after the death of his "wife" both misinterpret the situation that Aarush lied to Sandy about the dead wife. He later then meets Devika and asks for divorce papers. She then finds out his wife is alive and leaves him. Sandy does not allow Aarush to enter her room so he climbs from her balcony. Pasta thinks Aarush is committing suicide and live telecast is conducted. Sandy then switches on her TV and goes to her balcony but later when Aarush manages to clear the confusion, she accepts him.

The only way Aarush and Sandy can get married is by convincing her elder brother, Major Krishna Rao, a strict Indian Military Intelligence officer who loves his sister and is over-protective of her. Meanwhile, Hetal lies to her father, Batuk Patel, that Bob owns a mansion and they have a child, so she can meet him after so many years. On the other hand, Sandy tells her brother that Aarush is quite well to do too. The four are then forced to rent a mansion to make Hetal's dad believe that Bob owns it. Confusion prevails and somehow Batuk accidentally believes that Aarush is married to Hetal, and Bob is the cook. In the confusion they bring an African child and pretend that it is the baby. Then, Krishna turns up earlier than expected, much to Aarush's horror that Krishna was the one who punched him earlier leading to more lies and the two couples making him believe that Aarush owns the mansion.

For half of the term, the four must pretend that the mansion is owned by Bob, and the rest must pretend that Aarush owns it. Batuk Patel and the Landlady are Aarush's pseudo parents while Hetal is his sister and Bob is his brother in law. An overly suspicious Krishna goes to the casino as his bag was exchanged with Kishore Samtani. Krishna then sees Bob and Hetal working at the casino and as soon as they spot Krishna, they hide from him. Krishna then uses a lie detector on Aarush to find the truth. After Sandy objects, Krishna apologizes and agrees to Aarush and Sandy's marriage. The whole family is invited to the Royal Palace to see Krishna get rewarded by the Queen of the United Kingdom. While this is happening, two workers, Santa and Banta Singh, are meant to be installing air conditioning gas for the place. However instead they accidentally supply the hall with laughing gas causing everyone to break into an outburst of laughter. During this laughter, the truth is let out but no one seems to be in the right state of mind.

The two workers meanwhile stop the gas from spreading – everyone comes back to their senses. Aarush goes on stage to reveal the truth to Krishna about his ill-fate and believes his engagement with Sandy is now broken. Krishna though believes Aarush is no longer a jinxed loser and instead orders him and Sandy to get married. In the end, Hetal and Bob live together with Batuk Patel, and Aarush's luck changes for the better.

 

Cast

·         Akshay Kumar as Aarush Avasthi, Pooja’s ex-boyfriend and Devika’s ex-husband

·         Ritesh Deshmukh as Babu Rao "Bob", Hetal’s husband, Aarush’s friend

·         Lara Dutta as Hetal Rao (nee Patel), Bob’s wife

·         Arjun Rampal as Major Krishna Rao “Anna”, Sandy’s brother

·         Deepika Padukone as Soundarya Venkateshwari Bhagyalakshmi Basappa Rao, "Sandy"

·         Jiah Khan as Devika Samtani, Kishore’s daughter, Aarush’s ex-wife

·         Boman Irani as Batuk Patel, Hetal’s father

·         Chunky Pandey as Aakhri Pasta

·         Randhir Kapoor as Kishore Samtani, Devika’s father

·         Lillete Dubey as Sulekha Ji

·         Malaika Arora Khan as Pooja Rao, Aarush’s ex-girlfriend , Sandy and Major's Elder Sister

·         Manoj Pahwa as Santa Singh

·         Suresh Menon as Banta Singh

·         Daisy Irani as Batuk's mother

·         Jacqueline Fernandez as Dhanno (cameo appearance in song "Aapka Kya Hoga")