FILM REVIEW: MASTIII 4

A tired, crass echo of its past , Mastiii 4 runs on vulgarity, not wit - SUYASH PACHAURI

The Final Fiasco: Mastiii 4 Runs on Crude Nostalgia, Not Comedy

Starring: Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi, Aftab Shivdasani, Elnaaz Norouzi, Ruhi Singh,

Shriya Sharma, Tusshar Kapoor, Shaad Randhawa, Nishant Malkani, Arshad Warsi (Cameo), Nargis Fakhri (Cameo)

Director: Milap Milan Zaveri

Screenplay & Story: Faruk Dhondy, Milap Milan Zaveri

Running Time: 2 hours, 22 minutes (A-rated)

One Liner

The three friends are back for another week of disastrous debauchery, only this time, the vulgar stakes are higher, and the comedic returns are significantly lower.

The Legacy and the Letdown

The Masti franchise, which began in 2004, carved out a unique, if controversial, niche in Bollywood as one of the few commercially successful adult comedy series. Reuniting the original trio Riteish Deshmukh as Amar, Vivek Oberoi as Meet, and Aftab Shivdasani as Prem for the fourth installment, Mastiii 4, held the promise of revisiting the anarchic energy that defined the initial outings. Sadly, this latest effort, directed by Milap Milan Zaveri (who penned the story for the first two films), proves that nostalgia alone cannot power a comedy. While the film achieves its stated goal of being unapologetically vulgar, it confuses loudness and crudeness for genuine wit, ultimately delivering a tedious, two-and-a-half-hour cringe-fest that caters exclusively to the lowest common denominator.

The critical assessment of Mastiii 4 is strikingly clear: the film is highly polarized, working only for a specific segment of the mass audience that consumes double-meaning jokes without requiring any narrative sophistication. For anyone seeking nuanced comedy, sharp satire, or a plot that isn't riddled with logical fallacies, this is a cinematic experience to be rigorously avoided.

Story:

The core premise of Mastiii 4 is both recycled and reversed. Amar, Prem, and Meet are once again trapped in what they perceive as miserable marriages to Bindiya, Geeta, and Aanchal (Elnaaz Norouzi, Ruhi Singh, and Shriya Sharma, respectively). Their domestic routines, which include Amar's bizarre career as a 'master-mator' at a zoo, are painted as joyless and suffocating. The trio stumbles upon the concept of the "Love Visa," an absurd arrangement where one friend's wife grants him a week of annual marital freedom to indulge in extramarital affairs.

Inspired by this license for debauchery, the three men demand the same from their wives. This is where the script, by Faruk Dhondy and Milap Milan Zaveri, introduces its central hook: the wives not only agree but execute the “Reverse Masti.” They, too, jet off on an exotic getaway for a week of supposed freedom, leaving their paranoid husbands to follow them. The rest of the film becomes a chaotic game of suspicion and cat-and-mouse, as the men encounter three new figures Don Pablo Putinwa (Tusshar Kapoor), Inspector Virat (Shaad Randhawa), and Sid Walia (Nishant Malkani) who appear to be courting their wives.

While the idea of a reversed gender role in the adult-comedy space shows fleeting potential, the execution is where the film spectacularly collapses. The narrative struggles to move beyond the single, grating joke of sexual innuendo. The screenplay is described as good only in parts, constantly undermined by an overwhelming reliance on dialogues that are excessively vulgar and obscene. Instead of building tension or creating organic, character-driven laughs, the film merely accelerates the volume, mistaking noise for comedy.

Performances:

The returning trio of Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi, and Aftab Shivdasani is the lifeline of the franchise, and their chemistry is perhaps the only element that keeps the ship from sinking immediately. However, even their collective experience and comic timing cannot save the fundamentally weak writing. The critical consensus notes that the performances of the heroes are merely "good, nothing outstanding."

Riteish Deshmukh remains the most sincere and consistently funny of the lot, leaning into his established comic rhythm. He manages to land some of the few jokes that work, largely due to his familiarity with the character of Amar.

Aftab Shivdasani and Vivek Oberoi, unfortunately, are given less to work with, resorting to exaggerated reactions and loud delivery to sell stale punchlines. Oberoi, in particular, tends to veer "overboard" in several scenes, blurring the line between comic energy and exhaustion.

The new additions, Elnaaz Norouzi, Ruhi Singh, and Shriya Sharma, are deemed "okay" in their roles, largely serving as plot catalysts rather than fully fleshed-out comedic partners.

The supporting cast, which includes special appearances by Arshad Warsi (in a recurring role as Kamraj) and Nargis Fakhri (as Menaka), along with Tusshar Kapoor and Shaad Randhawa, is tragically underutilized. Tusshar Kapoor's Don Pablo Putinwa had the potential to inject the necessary dose of absurdity, but the writing reduces him and others to noisy, one-note caricatures. Their involvement, while a calculated marketing move, ends up being a creative letdown, with the film failing to maximize the comedic chops of these experienced performers.

Direction, Music, and Technical Flaws

Milap Milan Zaveri, who is known for his high octane dialogues and action packed direction in films like Satyameva Jayate, attempts to steer this chaotic comedy, with mixed results. The direction is "good at places," suggesting sporadic moments of effective staging.

However, Zaveri’s style, which thrives on hyperbolic melodrama, often feels mismatched with the specific needs of a tight, adult sex-comedy, which demands nuance and timing over sheer volume.

The film's technical packaging is also found wanting. While visually the film looks fresh and is shot in an A-grade manner by cinematographer Sanket Shah, the editing by Sanjay Sankla "should have been sharper." Given the film's reliance on quick-fire gags and confrontations, the languid pace after the interval causes the comedy to collapse, contributing to the sense that the movie runs on far too long at 2 hours and 22 minutes.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment comes in the music department, handled by Meet Bros and Sanjeev Darshan. The songs are generally described as "poor" and lacking the hit-making potential often associated with the franchise's predecessors. Lyrics are painfully juvenile, further reinforcing the film's overall cringeworthy tone instead of providing necessary, catchy relief.

Verdict: A Niche Product

Mastiii 4 is a movie made for a highly specific, niche audience, and it makes no effort to appeal beyond that demographic. Its unrelenting reliance on toilet humour, crude dialogues, and recycled jokes from its own and other films in the genre marks it as a tired, creatively bankrupt sequel. The film is less a vibrant revival and more a desperate attempt to flog a dead comedic horse.

The critical forecast is bleak: the movie will only appeal to a section of the single-screen masses and frontbenchers who seek sheer, unadulterated vulgarity. Family audiences, class audiences, and ladies are predicted to "keep away." In the final analysis, Mastiii 4 is "not special" (khaas nahi). It proves that in the current landscape of Bollywood comedy, this kind of adult humour, when stripped of genuine writing and relying solely on crassness, struggles to find relevance and artistic merit. The franchise needed a fresh twist; instead, it delivered a flat, noisy echo of its past.