Cirkus Movie Review: Rohit Shetty makes mad films. He makes mad, crazy films that (at least) entertain, or so we gleefully believed, until we witnessed his Cirkus. The latest outing could be a league of its own in a not-so-good way. Cirkus starring Ranveer Singh and Varun Sharma in the lead roles is a witless commotion presented as a comedy that will leave you with a terrible headache that refuses to budge in spite of popping a couple of aspirin. Badly directed and horribly enacted, this Cirkus is pompous and silly. I wonder if this shoddy display deserves any showtime for the trauma it inflicts is beyond belief. Honestly put, Shetty has created a new unit of measurement with this one which is likely to be used to determine the dreadfulness of films of this genre. The saddest thing about this mess is that it is deliberately and pompously vacuous. Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra - Celebs Obsessed With 'All Shades Of Pink'!

The first half of the film is bizarre, but the second half tries to compensate only to make you feel giddier in the end. You may find yourself chuckling and giggling a couple of times throughout the runtime thanks to Sanjay Mishra and Siddharth Jadhav’s incredible energy, but largely the entire film remains a ho-hum affair. If Mishra and Jadhav are the saviors of this one, the lead pair Ranveer and Varun are the ultimate weakness of the project - given the way they are utilized to pull off something only the makers must have believed to be comical. Did Rohit Shetty Just Confirm Ranveer Singh Is Doing Another Film With Sanjay Leela Bhansali? (Watch Video)

Officially adopted from the 1982 Hindi film Angoor which was based on William Shakespeare’s popular play The Comedy of Errors, this film tells the story of the swapping of identities. After finding two sets of identical twins on the doorstep of his orphanage, Dr Roy Jamnadas gives them up for adoption to two different families. Years later, a comedy of errors ensues when one set of twins decides to visit the city where the other set of twins runs a circus. Ranveer Singh and Varun Sharma in their respective double roles are neither engaging nor entertaining. While for Ranveer it's an out-and-out ham fest, Varun carries only one expression throughout the film, and this holds true for both their identical avatars. Vadh Movie Review: Sanjay Mishra and Neena Gupta Go For 'The Kill' With Finesse! (LatestLY Exclusive!)

The garish costumes and the grand sets notwithstanding, Cirkus offers the presence of multiple actors who are pretty regular in a Rohit Shetty film. So you have Mukesh Tiwari, Murali Sharma, Vrajesh Hirjee and many more making their presence felt. And then you also have Bijendra Kala, Sulbha Arya, and Tiku Talsania as well, each with a character as pointless as the plot and the screenplay of this dreary affair. Johnny Lever stands out with his unmatched antics even as Sidharth Jadhav starts looking like his lite version beyond a point as he stands alongside the incredible Lever. Jacqueline Fernandez and Pooja Hegde are easy on the eye with barely any material to enact a character.

All in all, Cirkus doesn’t work even if multiple acts and actors are at play without any semblance of coherence, creativity, and dare I say comedy that can evoke laughs. Elaborating further about the glorious mess that this film is would be as exhausting and pointless as suffering the trauma of witnessing this Cirkus!

Final Thoughts

Clearly, a witless comedy that feels every minute of its runtime, Cirkus is energy-sapping. There may be multiple look-alikes, but they don't exactly double the fun in this boring and pointless outing from director Rohit Shetty.

Rating:1.5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 23, 2022 10:10 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).