Housefull 4


Housefull 4 is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language 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 an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Bobby Deol, Kriti Sanon, Pooja Hegde and Kriti Kharbanda.
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 story is based on reincarnation, spanning a period of 600 years from 1419 to 2019. The film was theatrically released in India on 25 October 2019 during the occasion of Diwali to a mixed critical reception but became a massive box-office success.

Plot

Harry is a barber who frequently gets bizarre flashes of a past era. He runs a barber shop in London with his brothers Roy and Max. The three brothers had misplaced a bag of 5 million pounds which belonged to gangster Michael Bhai. His henchman Big Bhai constantly demands the money. To fulfil this demand, the three brothers get engaged to the three daughters of London's rich business tycoon Thakral: Harry is dating Pooja, Roy is dating Neha and Max is dating Kriti. Mysterious circumstances cause the destination wedding to take place in Sitamgarh, India. On arriving in Sitamgarh, Aakhri Pasta, a bellboy at their hotel, recognises them as reincarnations of people that lived 600 years ago, i.e. in 1419. Harry realises that the flashes he sees have something to do with what Pasta was talking about. To meet him, Harry drives to the nearby town of Madhavgarh where he starts to see the flashes clearly.
In 1419, Rajkumar Bala Dev Singh of Madhavgarh was banished by his father, Maharaj Parikshitap, since Bala tried to kill him to become King. Bala's servant Pehla Pasta informs him of Sitamgarh - a nearby kingdom whose King, Maharaj Surya Singh Rana, is looking for grooms for his three daughters: Rajkumari Madhu, Rajkumari Mala and Rajkumari Meena. Bala plans to marry Rajkumari Madhu, the eldest Princess, so that he becomes the Maharaj of Sitamgarh.
Bala meets Bangdu Maharaj, an effeminate dance teacher who has an affair with Mala. Meena is secretly in love with the brave bodyguard of the three princesses, Dharamputra. Bala helps the two couples get together and enlists their help for uniting him with Madhu. The plan works and Maharaj Surya Singh Rana announces the wedding of Madhu with Bala, Mala with Bangdu, and Meena with Dharamputra. However, Suryabhan, Surya Singh Rana's nephew, wants the throne for himself. He kills the brother of Sitamgarh's enemy clan's leader, Gama and frames the three couples for it. On the day of the wedding, Gama storms into the palace and fights them to avenge his brother. During the fight, Bala realises that he now truly loves Madhu, even though initially she was just the path to the throne for him. During the fight, the wedding mandap collapses and kills the three couples along with Gama.
Back in the present, Harry realises that the grooms are set to marry the wrong brides. Pasta helps Harry remind Roy and Max of their lives as Bangdu Maharaj and Dharamputra, respectively. Just then, they are introduced to Pappu Rangeela, a qawwali singer and the brother of the girls. He is the reincarnation of Gama but has no recollection of his past life. Meanwhile, Pasta finds a painting of their past lives' wedding day which shows Bala with Madhu, Bangdu with Mala, and Dharamputra with Meena to make the girls remember their past lives and also to avoid marrying each others love. Before they can show this painting to the girls to remind them of their past lives, it gets in the hands of Pappu Rangeela and he remembers his life as Gama.
Pappu crashes the wedding and a fight plays out. The fight makes Pooja and Neha remember everything. Soon, Michael Bhai, now revealed to be the reincarnation of Suryabhan, shows up at the wedding for his money and shoots Gama. Kriti remembers everything when she sees Michael Bhai and also reveals that the wedding mandap hadn't collapsed on its own - it was broken down by Suryabhan to kill everyone so that he could be the Maharaj of Sitamgarh. Michael Bhai recounts his past life and boasts how he got Gama's brother killed. Pappu Rangeela hears this and pushes Michael Bhai into the collapsing mandap, thus getting his revenge.
The film ends on a happy note with Harry marrying Kriti, Roy marrying Pooja and Max marrying Neha, thus completing their 600-year-old love story.

Cast

Harry is a barber who forgets things that just happened when he hears a loud noise. He is the reincarnation of Rajkumar Bala Dev Singh, a menacing prince who desires for the throne.
Roy is a barber and Harry's brother. He often mixes up genders while speaking. He is the reincarnation of Bangdu Maharaj, an effeminate royal dance teacher.
Max is a barber and Harry's brother. He is short-tempered and often resorts to punching. He is the reincarnation of the brave warrior, Dharamputra.
Kriti is Max's fiancée and the reincarnation of Rajkumari Madhu, who was Bala' fiancée.
Pooja is Kriti's sister, Harry's fiancée and the reincarnation of Rajkumari Mala, who was Bangdu Maharaj's fiancée.
Neha is Kriti's sister, Roy's fiancée and the reincarnation of Rajkumari Meena, who was Dharamputra's fiancée.
Aakhri Pasta is a bellboy who remembers everything from his past life as Pehla Pasta, who was Bala's servant.
Pappu is a qawwali singer and the reincarnation of Gama, an extremely strong tribal leader who wants to avenge his brother.
Manager of Hotel Sitamgarh Palace and the reincarnation of Giggly.
The servant of Madhu, Mala and Meena.
Rajkumar Bala's Father
Harry, Roy and Max's mother
Harry, Roy and Max's father
On 27 September 2019 official trailer of the film was launched by Fox Star Studios.
The film was theatrically released in India on 25 October 2019 during the Diwali festival.

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 4s 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 have become seventh Highest gross Bollywood movie 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 sexual harassment by 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.