CAST: Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Riteish Deshmukh, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani

DIRECTOR: Sajid Khan

So, okay, it’s not a copy of Three Men and A Baby. Because it’s Bollywood and there are no men in Bollywood, Akshay, Fardeen and Riteish are boys—three boys with a baby on their doorstep. In one clever stroke, first-time director Sajid Khan saves himself from straight up plagiarism charges, and allows himself the freedom to indulge in infantile humour, which boys and babies delight in.

So basically, Heyy Babyy is a running series of jokes which encompass stuff that boys find hilarious — bad smells, rear ends, involuntary emissions, and because there’s a baby in the proceedings, poo and pampers as well. But, and this is the thing, other species can join in the fun. Khan directs with a lightness of touch, and a trademark don’t-take-anything-seriously-including-myself, and comes up with a film which keeps you laughing most of its running time.

Arush, Al and Tanmay (Akshay, Fardeen and Riteish) are just boys who wanna have fun. They range far and wide amongst bikini-clad beauties in Sydney, sowing wild oats. They’ve sowed other stuff as well, clearly, because one fine morning, they are delivered, along with milk, a baby girl. They play passing-the-parcel —she’s not mine, has to be yours; they check out all the gals they’ve been, um, intimate with, and get their faces slapped. A lot. This is that kind of movie.

Khan has clearly heard how us Indians love to cry and laugh, so he puts in the baby’s suffering mother (Vidya, in floaty chiffons, chandelier ear-rings and not one maternal instinct on display). There are heavy emotional patches as the dudes find tales of baby doodh (don’t kill me, this is a joke from the movie ) more fascinating than other tails. There’s even a long sequence when Angel-the-baby gets soaked in the rain and is rushed to the hospital and survives a critical night, while the boys weep and pray— pure Manmohan Desai, in its inspiration and execution. Who says we steal only from Hollywood?

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