Santa Banta Pvt. Ltd.

Boman Irani and Vir Das are two of the finest actors the Hindi film industry has when it comes to comedy and when this duo is backed by a supporting cast comprising stalwarts like Johnny Lever, Tinu Anand, Sanjay Mishra, Ram Kapoor, Vijay Raaz, Vijay Patkar and Vrajesh Hirjee, one is bound to expect a knee-slapping laugh riot. However, Santa Banta Pvt Ltd, a film that stars all the aforementioned actors, fails to evoke anything beyond a tired chuckle.

Movies like Santa Banta Pvt Ltd are an insult to the audience. People spend their hard earned money to watch films. But if you get such incomprehensible garbage in return, you're literally being cheated. The movie and it's gags make absolutely no sense. If you thought old Santa and Banta jokes were jaded and juvenile, you have another thing coming with this film. The comedy in this movie is so bad it doesn't offend you, it puts you to sleep.

This film gives annoying a new meaning. It takes special kind of talent to make something as boring, ridiculous, vain and unfunny as this. It will be blasphemous to call it a comedy. And the fact that it stars the funny guy Vir Das and the witty Boman Irani, is a shame. The lethargic writing and amateurish humour doesn't have a hint of vibrancy. It is as dull as dull gets and even triple strength Americano can't help you stay awake while watching this muddled mess.

Recovering from the mind-numbing assault of Kyaa Kool Hain Hum 3 and Mastizaade was hard enough, now audiences have to deal with yet another deadly blow in Santa Banta. Watching Santa Banta will leave viewers asking relevant questions. Were Santa Banta jokes so bad that they were good? Did they never ever make us laugh? That's the effect of this film which follows two-good-for-nothing Punjabis - Santa (Boman Irani) and Banta (Vir Das) - who are passed off as secret agents. Sent on a mission to rescue the Indian High Commissioner of Fiji, the fools court trouble consistently but the ensuing situations rarely make you giggle let alone draw a hearty laugh.

The film revolves around the two lead characters who are best friends Santeshwar Singh aka Santa (Boman Irani) and Banteshwar Singh aka Banta (Vir Das). The good for nothing souls are soon misunderstood to be RAW secret agents and sent to Fiji for a secret mission. Their mission is to rescue the High Commissioner, Shankar (Ayyub Khan) who has been kidnapped. When RAW officer Arvind (Vijay Raaz) fails to find actual agents who used the name Santa Banta, he sends the fake ones.

Santa Banta jokes have been done to death. But innocuous as they are, they haven't ever killed anyone. But this film, which uses the names of Santa and Banta to peddle its imbecile gags, is a cruel, potentially harmful joke. Why on earth has Santa Banta Pvt. Ltd. been made? Keep guessing! It is mystifyingly bad: all noise, no poise. Boman Irani and Vir Das don the guise of the two titular characters who, pretty much like the film they are in, can get nothing right. The duo is hemmed in by an array of shadowy characters who float in and out of the frame without any specific purpose that can be comprehended.

Santa Banta jokes are a national treasure. Their long survival is, in a sense, an ode to the country's Sikhs who are among the few Indian communities with the ability to laugh at themselves (an image that terrorists and sections of the clergy have been consistently trying to undermine, ever since bombs were exploded in theatres showing Jo Bole So Nihaal in Delhi in 2005). Hindi cinema has also been guilty of unfairly exploiting the Sikh sense of humour by lazily and unintelligently stereotyping 'Sardars' as belligerent loudmouths and buffoons even in spaces where laughter is not relevant. There's a thesis begging to be written here. Suffice it to say for the purpose of this review that director Akashdeep's Santa Banta Pvt Ltd comes to theatres bearing the burden of a formidable legacy.

This film is accused of hurting a certain community's sentiments, and one wonders why. I'll tell you why: Because it's so lethargic and unfunny that the audience cannot wait for it to end. The plot is (thankfully) not complex: Santa (Irani) and Banta (Das) are two good-for-nothing bumbling Punjabis sent to rescue the kidnapped Indian High Commissioner in Fiji. The mission backfires because our heroes are ordinary, fun-loving crackpots rather than competent agents.