Mastiii 4, the fourth edition of the once-loved Masti franchise debuts years after the abysmal Great Grand Masti, just to affirm that we all should have moved on a long time ago. The initial Masti and Grand Masti had their moment of novelty when adult comedies had just arrived in Indian cinema; however, beyond nostalgia, all that novelty is gone. Rather than processing what went wrong in the previous film, Mastiii 4 just tromps on with a ridiculous, uninspired script that feels as if it were created in the depths of hell. What was supposed to be a comedic festival of laughter ends up feeling like a two hour endurance test, rather than something remotely humorous.

STORYLINE

The film chronicles three friends, Amar (Riteish Deshmukh), Prem (Aftab Shivdasani) and Meet (Vivek Oberoi), each living a monotonous existence being married buddies in the UK. Amar is employed at some zoo "helping animals to mate", Prem is a doctor who is frustrated with everyone constantly talking to him, and Meet has his own everyday challenges. Their wives (Elnaaz Norouzi, Ruhi Singh, and Shreya Sharma) are also bored. Marital tension between the guys and the girls is the narrative function of the plot.

The plot kicks off when the trio attends their friend Kamraj (Arshad Warsi) and Menaka's (Nargis Fakhri) anniversary party. They are surprised and frustrated to see Kamraj with many women, resulting in them exposing him, only to find out Menaka had given him a "Love Visa," a license to cheat for the week. Inspired by that permission, the trio then tries to seek permission from their wives, which leads to misunderstandings, a chaotic situation, and forced laughs.

POSITIVE POINTS

• The first half has a few moments of light humour but they are spread out are inconsistent.
• A few of the supporting cast, especially Arshad Warsi, who is only on-screen for a short time, made me smile briefly.

NEGATIVE POINTS

• The screenplay was repetitive, loud, and relied too heavily on cheap and crass humour.
• Some of the performances needed energy, and the lead trio was wholly uninspired.
• The female characters are only treated as objects - props not partners.
• Technically, the film suffered from uneven editing, loud sound design, and mediocre direction.
• The jokes are all too dated, and lack the charm of the earlier films.

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Overall: Mastiii 4 is a failed and pointless installment in a franchise that had potential. It gets a low rating for its weak humour, bad performances, and tasteless writing, but mostly because it completely killed a franchise that could have had a resurgence one day.