The first half of the film spends considerable time developing the character of Arush [Akshay Kumar], whom we see leaving his job to go back to stay with his best buddy Bob [Ritesh Deshmukh] and his wife Hetal [Lara Dutta], two casino employees in London. Arushs unwelcome gatecrash turns the life of the couple upside down with his bad luck rubbing off into their home. Bob and Hetal set him up with their boss [Randhir Kapoor] daughter Devika [Jiah Khan], and it seemed like the perfect match of a traditional Indian boy and girl. But when he finds out that Devika only married him because she wanted her fathers property. She was actually in love with an American guy, who her father would not approve of. A final plea to God leads to Arush meets up with his One True Love with Saundariya Bhagyalakshmi Venkateshwari Baassappa Rao, aka Sandy [Deepika Padukone]. Chunky Pandey, playing the hotel owner Akhiri Pasta, adds to the farcical comedy with a penchant of lying and construing them as jokes, with one key lie being the cause for a running gag for Aarush being hurried away from the scene by Bob and Hetal each time Devika is sighted. The story is about pretenses, and how in the name of saving ones face and reputation, lies lead to bigger lies, stemming from wanting to impress family members. For Hetal, she has consistently told that shes married to a rich boy and living it up in a big mansion, doing so to impress her dad [Boman Irani] who has frowned upon her decision to stay in London with Bob. For Sandy, her lie involves something similar to her brother Major Krishna Rao [a stoic faced Arjun Rampal] whom she thinks will frown upon her relationship with the loser Arush, and hence both couples have set the tone for the second half after the interval, playing on the theme and rationale of being perfectly OK to lie if its done for a noble cause, the definition of noble being quite narrow and for personal benefit.

Soundtrack

Box office

= Upon release, the film had an opening weekend of Rs. 48 crore in India, ahead of My Name Is Khan s Rs. 30 crore opening weekend. This gave Akshay Kumar his biggest opening till date, beating Singh Is Kinng. Housefulls opening weekend was the second-highest opening weekend collection of all time, behind 3 Idiots. By the end of the first week, the film collected Rs 49.8 crore, the third-highest first week collection - behind 3 Idiots and Ghajini. It also broke the 2010 record of biggest first week, previously held by My Name Is Khan. Housefull debuted in the United Kingdom at number two and collected Rs 1.8 crores on 55 screens in its opening weekend, while in the United States, the film collected Rs. 2.8 crores on 82 screens in its opening weekend. After six weeks, the film netted Rs. 71.86 crores. It was declared a Hit by box office India. By the end of its box office run, the film grossed a total of Rs. 71.94 Crore and became the tenth highest grossing Bollywood film in India.

Tracklist

=

Track	Song	Singer[s]	Duration
1	"Oh Girl Youre Mine"	Loy Mendonsa, Tarun Sagar, Alyssa Mendonsa	3:56
2	Papa Jaag Jayega	Neeraj Shridhar, Amitabh Bhattacharya , Ritu Pathak	3:17
3	"I Dont Know What To Do"	Shabbir Kumar, Sunidhi Chauhan	3:20
4	Aap Ka Kya Hoga [Dhanno]	Mika Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shankar Mahadevan, Sajid Khan and Arun Ingle	5:08
5	"Hes Such A Loser"	Vivinenne Pocha, Amitabh Bhattacharya	3:17
6	"Oh Girl Youre Mine [O Boy What A Girli Mix]"	Loy Mendonsa	3:39
7	"Papa Jag Jayega [Insane Insomaniac Mix]"	Neeraj Shridhar, Amitabh Bhattacharya	3:44
8	"I DonT Know What To Do - Shabbirs Sexy 70s Mix [Remix]"	Shabbir Kumar, Sunidhi Chauhan	4:03

Reception

= The soundtrack met with positive reviews. Abid of Glamsham said "Summing up, the album is another fun ride as we encounter one chartbuster after another, and hats off to the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who have once again shown that they have the potential to compose as per the demand of the makers and the script" and gave the album 4 stars. Samir Dave of Planet Bollywood gave 7.5 stars out of 10, stating "SEL deliver a fun ''n'' frothy soundtrack that serves up a whole heaping spoonful of happiness." Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama gave the album 3.5 stars and stated "Housefull is a fun album and never takes itself too seriously to turn into a landmark affair that would be remembered for years to come. The songs are meant to be entertaining enough to fit in well with the films narrative and not allow any full moment whatsoever to come in." Rudhir Barman of Sampurn Wire awarded the album 3.5 out of possible 5 stars saying "The fast paced journey that everything is taking currently, it''s the survival of what works today. In that aspect, Housefull works and ensures that there won''t be any dull moment once the songs play on screen."

Critical response

= | rev2 =NDTV | rev2Score = | rev3 =CNN-IBN | rev3Score = | rev4 =Sify | rev4Score = | rev4 =Indiatimes | rev4Score = }} Housefull received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN trashed the movie, saying Housefull makes you cringe in embarrassment and disgust for what passes off as entertainment and cinema these days..Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of 4/5 in his review, saying "Housefull is a complete laugh-riot, and is an entertainer all the way, targeted at the masses". Anupama Chopra of NDTV said that it was impossible to take the characters seriously, and gave the movie a raing of 2/5. Rediff gave it a 1/5, calling its humor lame. Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India gave it a 2 and said, "What annoys most about ''Housefull'' is the fact that Sajid Khan claims this to be his tribute to greats like Manmohan Desai and Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Both have been great filmmakers and had their respective domains and Sajid''s attempt at combining both ends up has him falling flat on his face." Gaurav Malani from IndiaTimes gave it 2/5 and said "Housefull is a slap on your senses as the film sticks to the slapstick genre in every literal sense.[...] There are some genuinely funny moments in the second half esp. Boman Irani sleepwalking through his portrayal of Gujarati Sholay. Unfortunately it fails to salvage the harm caused by the bland, boring and banal first half. Housefull ends up being a painful experience."

Controversies

P L Thenappan — the producer of the 1998 Tamil film, Kaathala Kaathala starring Kamal Hassan, Prabhudeva, Rambha, and Soundarya — filed a complaint with the Tamil Film Producers Council alleging that producer Sajid Nadiadwala and director Sajid Khan had remade his film into Hindi without proper permission. In his complaint, Thenappan said, "I was shocked when I watched the Hindi film as nearly 60 per cent of the scenes from Kadhala Kadhala are there." He also stated that he was in talks with Nadiadwala about selling the remake rights more than a year ago and the deal did not go through. The film also faced controversy due to the remixed version of the song "Apni Toh Jaise Taise," originally from the 1981 film Laawaris directed by Prakash Mehra. The Calcutta High Court restrained producer Sajid Nadiadwala from the cinematic use of the song.

Home media

Housefull is expected to be released in Blu-ray and DVD within four to six months after its cinematic release.