‘Housefull 5’: Akshay Kumar’s Crass, Unfunny Mess Is a Low Point for Bollywood Comedy

Back when Bollywood dreamed up the Housefull franchise, Sajid Khan, Sajid Nadiadwala, Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, and Chunky Panday probably didn’t imagine it would become a five-film juggernaut. The franchise was never about film greatness, but box-office draw kept it going. Today, June 6, 2025, Housefull 5 has arrived in cinemas with two cuts, three-hour runtime, two killers, and one colossal misfire. Mayhem was always this brand’s energy, but here it is hampered by raunchy innuendos and jokes so dull they’d make you cringe.

Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, and Abhishek Bachchan have made good comedy in the past, but here they’re stuck with a script that’s trying too hard and getting nowhere. The ladies in the movie? They’re around for little more than eye candy, with cringe-worthy jokes about bodies and the number 69 ripped from a rejected sequel to Masti. Director Tarun Mansukhani navigates this packed vessel, but piling 19 actors onto a half-cooked murder mystery sounds less like vision and more like a formula for catastrophe. The characters are stranded on an ordeal-placed cruise, and so is the audience, with no respite from the incontinent, cerebral-killing comedy.

Unlike Bollywood gems like Baadshah or Dhamaal, which blended wild plots with clever charm, Housefull 5 is a humorless slog. Akshay Kumar’s exaggerated antics and raunchy one-liners are more painful than funny, a far cry from the easy wit of Garam Masala or even Khel Khel Mein. Farhad Samji’s writing is astonishingly weak, robbing even dependable performers like Riteish Deshmukh of their usual spark and turning Chunky Panday’s self-aware humor into a footnote.

And then there’s Shreyas Talpade and Chitrangda Singh, marking 20 years in the business after impressive launches in Iqbal and Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. They leave themselves to no-one, but the script does not deliver anything for them. Chitrangda’s compelling energy is wasted, and Talpade, a criminally wasted talent, is given a role that hardly touches the tip of his talents. It is a pity such talented actors are wasted.

The movie also relies on nostalgia with Sanjay Dutt and Jackie Shroff essaying silly characters, accompanied by Khalnayak’s memorable music score to trigger 1993 memories. But the ploy does not work, coming across as more mannered than merry. The lone saving grace is Nana Patekar, who manages to land a few smirk shots amidst this comedy disaster. Perhaps he read the writing on the wall—comedy is no laughing matter, and Housefull 5 botches it big time.

This movie is an egregious instance of what’s been amiss with Bollywood comedies: relying on star power and tawdry humor rather than clever writing and genuine humor. It’s a bloated, offending disaster that leaves you exhausted but not entertained. Still, with rumors already being heard of Housefull 6, it appears the franchise’s box office appeal may outlast its creative wasteland. Save your popcorn for something funny.