Garam Masala

Director: Priyadarshan
Screenplay: Neeraj Vora
Cinematography: Tirru
Choreography: Pony Verma
Art: Sabu Cyril


Garam Masala is a farce, a comedy built upon absurd situations. Full of humor, slapstick, and swarms of beautiful women, Garam Masala is good for laughs.

Akshay Kumar and John Abraham play two bumbling photographers, Makrand and Shyam, who shoot pictures of beautiful women for their employer at the magazine, Garam Masala but fail to produce pictures suitable for print.

Mak and Shyam use their occupation as a way to meet and bed as many women as they can, tripping over themselves in the process. They tell so many lies to get what they want, they cannot keep track of their stories. When Shyam wins an international photography contest by fraudulent means, he becomes Mak’s boss. Mak becomes jealous and they part company.

To replace his means of impressing women, Mak lands a job as caretaker of a beautiful home. Many friends are willing to help Mak succeed in setting up an attractive trap to lure beautiful women. One friend, a mechanic, supplies him with expensive cars. Another friend introduces Mak to three airline hostesses Sweety, Puja, and Deepti played by Neetu Chandra, Nargis Bagheri, and Daisy Bopana.

Mak immediately promises undying love to all three and maintains a schedule so the women do not meet. At least, that is his plan.

To complicate matters, Mak ignores the fact he is engaged. Besides balancing the schedules of the airline hostesses, he must also placate a neglected fiancée, Anjali, played by Rimi Sen.

Mak’s cook, Mambo, played by Paresh Rawal, is the funniest character in the movie. Hired by Mak after stating outrageous demands, Mambo reluctantly helps Mak in his deceptions. He rebels every time one of Mak’s female guests demands a certain dish and by the time he has prepared the dish, a new girl has been ushered in through a host of revolving doors and is offended by Mambo’s cooking. He throws out the food and packs his bags.

When Shyam returns, he bribes Babbar, the mechanic, played by Rajpal Yadav, with the promise of liquor and money to get Mak’s new address. Once at Mak’s, Shyam gives him two rupees. Babbar turns his nose up and stuffs the bills back in Shyam’s shirt pocket along with a contribution of his own.

Shyam joins in Mak’s games. Changes in flight schedules have the trio, Mak, Shyam, and Mambo running in circles and falling all over themselves fabricating story after story to divert the various women. When Anjali pops up now and again, she adds to the trio’s mounting confusion. Eventually, Mak’s fantasy life topples as the various girlfriends and fiancée collide.

I love the versatility of Bollywood actri. Many try drama, comedy, romance, adventure and more. Akshay Kumar is an agile, talented, attractive man with a high wattage smile. He dances, jumps, stumbles, rolls, crawls, falls, and runs with ease as his character’s schemes unravel. John Abraham stirred faint memories of Johnny Walker as Akshay’s sidekick. One additional note, the song and dance numbers featured beautiful stylish sets.