Kanhaiya Reema Sen as Sukhmani Paresh Rawal as Lilaram aka Leela Om Puri as Balwant aka Ballu / Fake Joseph Anthony Fernandes Rajpal Yadav as Bajbahadur aka Bajey Asrani as Chokheylal, Kanhaiya's father Shakti Kapoor as Joseph Sudha Chandran as Thakurain Arbaaz Khan as Jayesh Agarwal, the lottery inspector Rasika Joshi as Mary Sona Nair as Tara (Lilaram's wife) Geetha Vijayan Rakhi Sawant as an item number "Kismat Se Chalti Hai" Innocent as Joseph Anthony Fernandes (Tiku Talsania as the Hindi dubbing voice) Soundtrack Release The film was released on 10 March 2006. Critical reception The Hindustan Times was broadly positive about Malaamal Weekly, with two reviewers awarding it two and three stars but lauding "the sheer pleasure" of Rawal and Puri's comic performances. Most reviewers, however, were more negative. The BBC gave the film two out of five stars, citing a "weak script" and saying that the humour of Waking Ned had been "lost in translation." Molodezhnaja.ch concurred, repeatedly complaining that the film was too long, had only one song and the rest consisting of "repetitive scenes, long, no, endless dialogue and a poor finale," giving it 2.5 stars on the basis of "a few laughs and solid casting." It did at least give the single song credit for "breaking up the otherwise monotonous events"; rediff.com described it as "the worst Bollywood song ever" in addition to summing the film up as "simply pathetic." Priyadarshan shrugged off the poor reviews, claiming "My films have never been given good reviews in Mumbai. I'd get seriously worried about my films the day they're reviewed favourably." Box office Despite the mixed reviews, the film was a surprise hit at the box office. As of April 2006, the film was the top grosser in Delhi. Made on a budget of ₹7 crore, the film grossed ₹42.7 crore worldwide. Remakes Future A sequel was planned later, which was directed by Priyadarshan, the title of Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal. It starred Shreyas Talpade, Nana Patekar, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Dr.Rajeev Pillai and Rajpal Yadav; the rest of the cast. Though later director Priyadarshan claimed that movie was not a sequel but a reboot. References External links Malaamal Weekly at Indiafm.com Malaamal Weekly Website 2006 films 2000s Hindi-language films 2006 comedy films Indian comedy films Hindi films remade in other languages Films directed by Priyadarshan Indian remakes of British films Films about lotteries