Grand Masti turns 9: When a boy laughed himself to death during Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi & Aftab Shivdasani’s film

Back in 2004, audiences were first introduced to three quirky characters named Meet, Amar and Prem-- a group of unhappily married men who sought out to find some Masti in their lives. While the film did follow the theme of infidelity, the comedy was light and harmless. Well, exactly 9 years ago Vivek Oberoi, Riteish Deshmukh and Aftab Shivdasani reunited on-screen as Meet, Amar and Prem for the sequel titled Grand Masti. This time the film received negative reviews, but successfully emerged to be the first adult comedy to gross Rs 100 crore at the box office.

While critics found it outrageous and vulgar, there were some members from the younger audience who thought Grand Masti was funny. But in the most shocking incidents of all time, a 22 year old boy named Mangesh Bhogal laughed himself to death while watching this film in a multiplex with his girlfriend. He reportedly suffered from a heart attack and was rushed to the Cardinal Gracias Hospital at Vasai West in Mumbai, where he was declared dead. A case of accidental death was registered.

A few years after Grand Masti released, Riteish, Vivek and Aftab reprised their characters for the third installment in the series. Titled Great Grand Masti, the film explored the genre of supernatural horror adult black comedy this time. Also starring Urvashi Rautela and Shreyas Talpade, part 3 ended up being a box office bomb and even got into some legal trouble.

As members of the audience, what are your honest thoughts on the Masti series?