Housefull 4
Housefull 4 is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language fantasy comedy film directed by Farhad Samji and produced by Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and Fox Star Studios. The film is the fourth installment of "Housefull" franchise, and stars a cast of Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde and Kriti Kharbanda in the lead roles. The film was half directed by Sajid Khan, who had also directed the first two installments, but was replaced by Farhad Samji midway during the shooting, due to "Me Too" allegations. Nadiadwala claimed the film to be the highest-budgeted Indian comedy  film. The film was theatrically released in India on 25 October 2019 during the occasion of Diwali to received mixed to negative reviews, who appreciated performances of ensemble cast, and production values, but criticized for screenplay, writing, humor, cliches, and direction, but became a box-office success. Premise. The story of the film is based on reincarnation, and spans a period of 600 years from 1419 to 2019. Plot. 3 brothers Harry, Max and Roy live in London. A barber, Harry gets frequent bizarre flashes of a past era. His forgetful nature causes him to misplace a don Michael's  bag of 5 million pounds whose henchman demands them to return the money. To fulfill this Harry, Roy and Max get engaged to Pooja, Neha and Kriti, the 3 respective daughters of rich businessman Manraj Thakral. But soon all of the 3 trios fall in love and their wedding preparations begin. Sone circumstances cause the wedding to be in Sitamgarh. There all of them meet Aakhri Pasta, a bellboy at their hotel who recognizes them as reincarnated people of 600 years ago in 1419. Harry realizes his flashes have a connection with Pasta's claims and gets to know the  past from him in Madhavgarh. In 1419, Madhavgarh's Rajkumar Bala was banished by his father Maharaj Parikshitap for trying to kill him to become king. His servant Pehla Pasta took him to Sitamgarh (then a kingdom) whose king Surya Singh Rana wanted grooms for his daughters. Bala planned to marry the eldest Madhu to become Maharaj and meets Bangdu, an effeminate dance teacher who's dating the second daughter Mala. Meena, the youngest loves her brave bodyguard Dharamputra. Bala helps them to be together and also they get him and Madhu united. The plan works as Surya announces their  weddings, but his nephew Suryabhan who wants the throne kills Sitamgarh's enemy clan leader and frames the couples for it. Leader's brother Gama fights for revenge. Bala realizes he truly loves Madhu. The wedding mandap collapses and kills the couples and Gama. Back in present, Harry realizes the grooms are set to marry the wrong brides. Pasta helps Harry remind Roy and Max of their previous lives. Pappu Rangeela, a qawwali singer and Gama's reincarnation, enters but has no recollection of his past. Pasta finds a painting of their past lives' wedding day, which shows Madhu-Bala , Mala-Bangdu and Meena-Dharamputra to make the girls remember their past. Before they can show painting to the girls, it is caught by Pappu, who remembers his life as Gama and crashes the wedding, leading Pooja and Neha to remember everything. Michael, in fact Suryabhan's reincarnation shows up at wedding for his money and shoots Gama. Kriti remembers everything when she sees Michael and also reveals the mandap hadn't collapsed - Suryabhan broke it down to kill everyone so he could be the Maharaj. Michael recounts his past and boasts how he killed Gama's brother. Pappu hears  this and pushes Michael into the collapsing mandap, thus bringing his revenge. The film ends on a happy note as Harry-Kriti, Roy-Pooja and Max-Neha get married, thus completing their 600-year-old love story. Release. The film was theatrically released in India on 25 October 2019 during the Diwali festival along with Vijay starrer "Bigil". Reception. Critical response. "Koimoi" gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and said, "Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh & Gang Gift Us Punlimited Fun This Diwali." Komal Nahta of "Film Information" said, ""Housefull 4" is not a very entertaining fare and has ordinary merits. On  the one hand is the festival period which will work in its favour and on the other hand is the word of mouth which will work against its interests." Sreeparna Sengupta of "The Times of India", giving two and half stars out of five, noted that due to general silliness, there were mindless comic moments and scenes of low-brow humour in the film. She opined that it was a drag in portions and jokes were stale. She concluded, "Overall, "Housefull 4" ends up as a complete mad caper. Which, if you're a fan of the Housefull brand of  comedy, might appeal to you. But if you are not, then proceed with caution. Trade analyst and critic Taran Adarsh gave the film one and half stars out of five and called it as "disappointing". Criticising writing, direction and over the top performances, he noted that it is the weakest film in Housefull franchise, which failed to make audience laugh. Box office. "Housefull 4"s opening day domestic collection was 16.50 crore. On the second day, the film collected 17.00 crore. On the third day, the film collected 13.00 crore, taking total opening weekend collection to 46.50 crore. , with a gross  of 231.67 crore in India and 48.60 crore overseas, the film has a worldwide gross collection of 280.27 crore and is the eighth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2019. Soundtrack. The film's music is composed by Sohail Sen, Farhad Samji and Sandeep Shirodkar, with lyrics written by Farhad Samji, Sameer Anjaan and Vayu. ""Bhoot Raja Bahar Aaja"" composed by Laxmikant–Pyarelal sung by Asha Bhosle from the 1977 movie "Chacha Bhatija" was recreated as ""The Bhoot Song"". Also, the music of the song was remixed from the song "Ammadu let's do Kummudu" composed by Devi Sri Prasad of  the movie Khaidi No. 150. "Bala Bala" by Tony Montana Music was recreated as "Shaitan Ka Saala." The makers of the film officially got the rights to remake the original song after six months. Controversies. Director Sajid Khan was originally scheduled to direct the film; in October 2018, in the wake of the ongoing "Me Too" movement in India, Khan was accused by actresses Saloni Chopra, Rachel White and journalist Kma Upadhyay of sexual assault and misconduct. Following the accusations, Khan tweeted that he would step down as director, while lead actor Akshay Kumar tweeted that he was cancelling shooting  for the film and that he would not work with the accused until the investigation was complete. Later on, Nana Patekar too left the production in the wake of allegations of inappropriate behaviour and touch Tanushree Dutta. However, later on, he was given clean chit by investigation agencies and now it is to be looked whether he will be called again for the movie since he was removed from the movie only because he was accused. Farhad Samji, who co-directed "Housefull 3" has replaced Sajid Khan as the director.