Crackers galore during the festive season, so are the movie releases this Wednesday. Yes, there are so many sparkles at box office. An, one man who is going bananas over the new releases is director Priyadarshan. He has ladoos in both hands; if he has made a heart wrench story in 'Kyonki', he returns to his most sought after forte, comedy in 'Garam Masala'. Priyadarshan says 'Kyonki' is very close to his heart, but it is 'Garam Masala' where he has put in all his energy during the last year or so.

Like all his other Hindi films, 'Garam Masala' too is a remake of Priyadarshan's own Malayalam film. 'Garam Masala' is a remake of Malayalam film 'Boeing Boeing'. With 'Garam Masala', Akshay Kumar inches closer to the slot of comic hero no.1 that has been lying vacant since the departure of Hero No. 1 Govinda, and this khiladi of Bollywood is out to prove that he is the only one left in the race for the next comic hero in Hindi cinema.

'Garam Masala' is also reunion of Akshay Kumar with his erstwhile production house Venus Tapes and Records. Venus has already made about half a dozen films with Akshay, but stakes had never been as high as are this time with 'Garam Masala'. 'Garam Masala' gels with the flavor of the season, and in this voyage Akshay also teams up with the cool hunk John Abraham for the first time.

Priyadarshan has made two more films with Venus Tapes and Records before 'Garam Masala', namely 'Hungama' and 'Hulchul'. But, 'Garam Masala' is departure from Priyadarshan's earlier comedy films because of its treatment. If it was content that was main focus in Priyandarshan's comedy films, then it's packaging that rules his latest, 'Garam Masala'. 'Garam Masala' is in fact a festive bonanza for comic lovers.

Akshay Kumar plays Mac. He is a photographer by profession but hardly finds work for living. But, lady luck smiles on him soon and in the form of not one, not two but three beautiful girls. These are three gorgeous airhostesses, namely, Prity (Daisy Bopanna), Sweety (Neetu Chandra) and Puja (Nargis). Mac is in love with Anjali (Rimmi Sen), but seeing the opportunity to cash on with his luck, Mac makes all the three girls believe that she and she alone is in his life.

Things would have gone the Mac way, if Sam (John Abraham) hadn't been there. Sam enters the scene only to make things go wrong for Mac. Sam and Mac have been friends but they have locked horns now. Incidentally, one more character enters the scene and he is no one else but the funny Paresh Rawal. The hung ho soon begins to take the charge of everything; his cunningness makes things go haywire.

If 'Garam Masala' manages to catch the comedy flavor it is because of its slick presentation. Priyadarshan has evolved a very tight and yet funny presentation around a very thin story line. He manages to garnish a very ordinary dish with extraordinary effervescence. 'Garam Masala' is also unique because of the thought process involved in it. Priyadarshan has brought in three new girls in the film and it has helped the film a lot.

These three girls add the required oomph in the film and yet don't defocus the main story line. If in 'Kyonki', Sanjay Chhel disappoints with his dialogues, then its Neeraj Vora who gets all the attention in 'Garam Masala' for his witty and out of the blue dialogues. Neeraj has excelled to get catchy flow and punch very much needed for such kind of a film. Thiru has once again come as a great help for Priyadarshan as a cinematographer.

He catches all the beaches and beauty effectively with his camera. The usage of contrast colors with right kind of frames, Thiru has added glow to each and every shot. But, there are some weak links too in the film, and the weakest is its music. People expected better tunes from Pritam after 'Dhoom', but he has belied them. The acting style of Aki Narula, Rocky S, Kalpana Jain and Komal Shahani is excellent.

Among actors, it is Akshay who carries the film on his shoulders. He is a gem of an actor who has evolved from a stunt hero to a funny man. In between, Akshay has also done melodrama, but it looks that comedy has always been his forte. With John, the director brings in a lot of energy in the film and with all the three beautiful girls he provides the charm required to attract the viewers to theatres.