The Hindi film remake of Sameer Patil’s popular Marathi film Poshter Boyz (2014) will be released on September 8. In Poster Boys, starring Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol and Shreyas Talpade (also the film’s director), three men find their worlds turned upside down after they find themselves on a poster advertising vasectomy. It’s the second remake of Patil’s comedy starring Dilip Prabhavalkar, Hrishikesh Joshi, Aniket Vishvasrao after Akshay Kumar announced in January that he would be producing a Telugu version.
Inspired by the story of three coolies who found themselves on a similar poster they had never posed for, Poster Boys is in line with a spate of recent Bollywood films dealing with taboo topics and bodily functions, ranging from constipation and sperm donors to impotence and menstrual hygiene, such as Vicky Donor (2012), Piku (2015), Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017), Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (2017) and Padman (2018).
The Marathi movie is set in a village in Maharashtra. Three men discover their faces on a government poster for a family planning programme involving vasectomy. The consequences are immediate. No-nonsense school teacher Sadanand Kulkarni (Hrishikesh Joshi) faces divorce proceedings after his wife gets wind of the fact and feels that her dream of finally having a son after two daughters is in jeopardy. Village patriarch Jagan Deshmukh (Dilip Prabhavalkar) becomes the shame of his family and his daughter’s wedding is broken off. The resident cool youngster Arjun (Aniket Vishvasrao) is forced to part ways with his paramour after his prospective father-in-law catches a glimpse of the poster.
Much of the film’s hilarity comes from the reactions to the perceived emasculation of the men. The three leads also turn in brilliant comedic performances and consistently play off each other.
Poshter Boyz also makes a trip to Mumbai to examine the completely clueless bureaucracy that has created the confusion. The film doesn’t let the theme of vasectomy to overburden the narrative or use it for cheap jokes, and instead focuses on the journey of three men out to prove their innocence and sexual abilities against a brutish administration that refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing.
Talpade, who produced and played a minor role in the original, directs and takes one of the lead roles in the Hindi remake. The trailer for Poster Boys reveals many direct shot-for-shot recreations from the original with the new elements being the Deol brothers transporting the setting to the Hindi heartland.
