Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai

Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Varun Dhawan, Pooja Hegde, Mrunal Thakur, Jimmy Sheirgill, Maniesh Paul

Director: David Dhawan

What’s Good: The unfazed manoranjan

What’s Bad: The music for a Tips film

Loo Break: Not for me!

Watch or Not?: To unwind, yes! If you are a fan of the Dhawans, Yesssss!

Language: Hindi

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 136 Minutes

User Rating:

Jass (Varun Dhawan) is married to Baani (Mrunal Thakur), but the latter is seeking a divorce for the craziest possible reason: he loves her too much and wants to get physical all the time, she tells the court! He argues that he actually wants to father a child. The judge (Ali Asgar) gives them a six-month period to mull over the issue, as Baani does not want to be a mother immediately for her career prospects—she is a CEO. After this, Baani hugs Jass and tells him to move on in life. But they have one last drunken spree with the daaru that first brought them together.

And soon, Jass, a photographer, moves to the UK, where he again meets Preet (Pooja Hegde), a girl he had encountered in Rishikesh before and saved from drowning with CPR. This technique had been taught to him by his principal (Manoj Pahwa).

Preet falls for him and invites him, via a message on a pound note, to her mansion, where she introduces him to her trigger-happy brother, Jogi Randhawa (Jimmy Sheirgill), whose Man Friday, Ghuggi (Rajesh Kumar), is a suspicious yet gullible man by nature. Brother warns Jass that if he ever dumps or deceives Preet, he will kill him. Jass, thinking that Baani has told him to move on instead of being miserable, has also fallen for her.

Preet soon gets pregnant and announces it to Jass on ‘International Pregnancy Day.’ On that same day, Baani arrives in London too and tells him that she is pregnant from that last fling they had with the wine!

Chaos rules as Jass wants to hide his two girls and his ‘pregnant’ secret from them. His ever-supportive best friend, Kunnu (Maniesh Paul), also comes to London to help out in the mess. The rest is all chaos and song-and-dance, like a stage marital comedy set in the David Dhawan zone, wherein only an intellectual cynic or a Hindi film hater will expect logic. The end, I guess, is a key part of this film that Dhawan has announced is likely to be his last directorial—new for both him and Hindi cinema!

Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai Movie Review: Script Analysis

The story is credited to Dhawan Sr. himself, the screenplay to Yunus Sajawal, and the dialogues to Farhad Samji. As with his best works, Farhad’s lines are often witty and chuckle-worthy, and the racy screenplay seems to thrive on mad situations and coincidences galore, like the two girls not only happening to share the same gynecologist and hospital but also the same day for becoming mothers, as Preet needs a premature delivery!

The film is full of comic punches and characters—we have a nutty Indian obstetrician, Dr. Gulati (Chunky Pandey), a hospital assistant named ‘Selfie’ Kumar (Rakesh Bedi), who initially blackmails Jass and later does the same with the nutcase doctor, Jass’ fake mother, Rasamalai (Mouni Roy), his nutty schoolteachers (Manoj Pahwa, Rajpal Yadav, and Johny Lever), whose past tips guide Jass at crucial points in life, the Man Friday with a secret, and Preet’s brother, who shoots bullets in an elevator. The zany caper thrives on its theme of pregnancy, even showing Jass falling from a rooftop in the pre-climax onto a trampoline full of stuffed toys.

The wackiness remains undiluted until the last frame. And as with so many films nowadays, especially the comedies, we have references in the dialogue to old but cult Hindi movies as well.

Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai Movie Review: Star Performance

Varun Dhawan is in his element in his fourth outing (Main Tera Hero, Judwaa 2, Coolie No. 1 reboot) with his father at the helm. The seriocomic tenor is maintained with consistency by this talented actor, and he is goofy, shrewd, cocksure, intense, and desperate as needed, all with great conviction.

The girls do well without being extraordinary, and to be fair, they are merely there for the glam quotient. Jimmy Sheirgill gets into his usual stern and taciturn mode, but is quite amusing all the same. Maniesh Paul does his patented bit as the loyal buddy who is often in a fix: he is meant to be a shade over-the-top, and he is. And Ali Asgar, Johny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, and Manoj Pahwa give OTT performances totally.

Chunky Pandey is in Housefull mode, and Mouni Roy and Rajesh Kumar are clearly enjoying what they are given to do. Kubbra Sait, Rakesh Bedi, and Ayesha Reza (as Jass’ mom) are wasted. The actor playing Rajesh Kumar’s ladylove is alright in the few scenes she gets.
And last but not least, Kriti Sanon is just superb in her cameo as Jass’ school-time classmate Disha.