It is difficult to imagine two former Miss Universe winners fighting over a pot-bellied, ageing Govinda. But it is impossible to imagine anyone else but Govinda as a goofy Casanova stuck between a dictatorial wife and a demanding mistress, ever ready with a trick up his sleeve to wriggle out of any sticky situation.

Govinda is a riot in Do Knot Disturb. Whether it is going “Dolly-Dolly-Dolly-Dolly-Dolly” in that strange nasal twang every time he spots, well, Dolly (Lara Dutta), his laugh-a-second-interactions with his former driver Mangu (Rajpal Yadav) and his office assistant (Manoj Pahwa) or the scene where he speaks in a female voice for a hilarious 10 minutes, Govinda is right at the top of his game. Watch out for that scene where he goes berserk in a board meeting when he gets to hear about Govardhan (Riteish Deshmukh) — a restaurant waiter whom he hires to pose as Dolly’s ‘boyfriend’ to appease his suspicious wife Kiran (Sushmita Sen) — and Dolly ‘sleeping’ together.

It is vintage Govinda in his 16th film with director David Dhawan. But is Do Knot Disturb vintage David Dhawan? Unfortunately not.

Borrowing generously from No Entry and the director’s own Biwi No. 1, Do Knot Disturb does provide its fair share of belly laughs but isn’t half as much fun as a Partner or a Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. The dialogues are paisa vasool (sample: Mangu says, “Yeh toh ghar ki bulb aur baahar ki tubelight ek hi transformer pe chala raha hai,” referring to Govinda’s two-timing ways or when Manoj Pahwa tells a disturbed Govinda, “Kitni baar kaha tha apne TV set ke saath doosre ki DVD mat lagaana.”), the situations are amusing and the actors are spot-on for the most part, but somehow it all fails to come together for 140 minutes of consistent fun.

As one has come to expect from a David Dhawan-Govinda film, Do Knot Disturb has no plot as such. “Main maalkin hoon aur tum mulazim” is what Govinda’s Raj hears day in and day out from wife Kiran who owns the multi-million dollar company he works in. So, he dives into the arms of supermodel Dolly and then hires Govardhan as her boyfriend when his wife starts getting suspicious. Kiran, however, doesn’t waste tears on Raj’s infidelity and engages college friend Nunu (Ranvir Shorey) to spy on the trio. Add to that mad mix Dolly’s obsessive former beau Diesel (Sohail Khan) and what ensues is a comedy of errors with each character, led by Govinda, finding himself in one banana-peel situation after another.

Do Knot Disturb starts off sluggishly with a first half that doesn’t quite live up to expectations. The momentum picks up post-interval with mistaken identities, funny goof-ups and even a Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro situation — with everyone tearing their hair out trying to figure how to dispose of Nunu’s ‘body’.

The moments leading up to the climax are however abrupt and the ending — which comes sooner than expected — gives the impression that Dhawan didn’t quite know how to put it all together in the end.

If Govinda is the sole reason for making Do Knot Disturb watchable, then Riteish doesn’t do too badly either. Watch out for that scene where he does Amitabh Bachchan’s billa number 786 act from Deewar and you will know why. Ranvir is top notch as usual, doing equally well as Sushmita’s not-so-secret admirer and then as a ‘corpse’. Sohail is fun within the limited confines of his role. Of the two women, Lara has the meatier role, while Sush has the, er, meatier look. With too many pounds here and there, Sush sadly is all over the place. And then there’s the other Bong connection — Rituparna Sengupta, playing a nurse in an uniform two sizes too small, has more dialogues than she has had in a Hindi film since Main Meri Patni Aur Woh. But she looks miscast opposite Riteish.

Vijay Arora’s lens captures Dubai beautifully, although we are made to believe that it is all Delhi. Nadeem-Shravan (yes, the Aashiqui men have risen from the dead), however, make a weak comeback with Bebo and Tere naal being the only tracks worth a listen.

If you are a Govinda fan, do catch Do Knot Disturb. Don’t expect to roll in the aisles at every scene and you will not be disappointed.