Indian movies

Laughter is the best medicine. But making people laugh is a difficult job. This, you realize after watching PANGA NAA LO.

PANGA NAA LO is a story of the two families -- Kartar Singh alias Kakkee [Om Puri] and Karsanbhai Shah alias Karsan [Satish Shah] -- who have been living in adjacent bungalows since the past 25 years. Karsan and Kakkee are inseparable friends. They mostly meet for drinks and 'snakes' [snacks] at a pub they have been frequenting ever since their college days. The owner of this pub, Gonsalves [Viju Khote], also happens to be their buddy and over the years, the three have developed a wonderful bond of friendship.

Their two children, Vera [Priyanka Yadav] and Bhura [Kunal Roy Kapoor], too have played together as kids. Now in their teens, their friendship is slowly beginning to blossom into love. Karsan and Kakkee are overjoyed at the development. But they notice that neither of them is making their move.

Sensing the deadlock, the enthusiastic fathers decide to cook a plan. They scheme a series of events in order to bring the lovers together, but it so happens that, sometimes due to Bhura's introvert nature and sometimes by a sheer stroke of bad luck, their plans fail to produce the desired results. So do the fathers eventually manage to bring the two kids together?

Good intentions gone wrong, that's the best way to describe this film. A handful of sequences do tickle your funny bone, but the comedy falls flat most of the times. Also, the handling of the subject leaves a lot to be desired. Besides, a few scenes can be deleted to make the goings-on crisper.

Most importantly, PANGA NAA LO could've done with a better script. You can make out that the actors are doing their best, but the screenplay loosens up at times, depriving you of the guaranteed impact it promised.

Rajen Kothari's direction is passable. Also, as mentioned earlier, the screenplay lets him down. Music [Rahul Ranade] is uninspiring. Cinematography is fair.

Om Puri and Satish Shah, two seasoned actors, deliver competent performances. Satish's Gujarati accent is humorous. Kunal Roy Kapoor fails to deliver. Priyanka Yadav is just about okay. Supriya Pathak Kapoor stands out, while Navni Parihar is alright.

On the whole, PANGA NAA LO is a dull show. At the box-office, it's a non-starter.