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Join UsRating: 2.5/5 Stars (Two and half stars)
Star Cast: Diana Penty, Abhay Deol, Ali Fazal, Jimmy Shergill, Piyush Mishra, Kanwaljit Singh, Momal Sheikh
Director: Mudassar Aziz
What’s Good: This film’s soul lies in its dialogues and the comic relief instilled in them. A clever writing holds this film together.
What’s Bad: With too many sub-plots, the film’s second half seems stretched.
Loo Break: Sometime in the second half!
Watch or Not?: Surprisingly, Happy Bhag Jayegi is watchable. The film’s comic elements and act keep you entertained. This could easily be a ‘Happy’ family watch.
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In Amritsar, Happy (Diana Penty) is getting married to the local corporator Daman Singh Bagga (Jimmy Shergill). On the other hand, Pakistani ex-governor, Javed Ahmed (Javed Khan) and his son Bilal Ahmed (Abhay Deol) are attending a conference in India.
Since Happy is in love with Guddu (Ali Fazal), the duo decide to elope together. When Happy escapes from her wedding, she jumps into a wrong truck which goes to Pakistan along with Bilal Ahmed’s convoy.
After accidentally reaching Lahore, a spunky Happy takes the whole town on her head while an agitated Bagga kidnaps Guddu with an assurance that Happy will come to him.
Will Happy and Guddu’s love story have a happy ending? Is Bilal too in the race to win Happy’s heart is what you have to find out!
Happy Bhag Jayegi Review: Script Analysis
After an average trailer that seemed to be a stale story, Mudassar Aziz’s Happy Bhag Jayegi comes as a complete surprise. The film even with a predictable plot, manages to keep you entertained with its funny dialogues. This situational comedy is also high on Anand L Rai feel. There are instances when one is reminded of Tanu Weds Manu too.
The film’s story is set in both India and Pakistan. One of the most likable points about this is, the representation of the life beyond the border which is quite similar to us. Taking on the country’s nature through subtle jokes, dialogues such as ‘Yahan bandook ke bina baat karo toh koi sunta hi nahi hai’ work well. The urdu conversations between Bilal and Afridi are amazing.
Happy’s character is much like Jab We Met‘s Geet and with a tad more confident act, it could have worked well. Also, there is less evidence that shows Happy to be a riot, we hear about her character being more crazy than actually seeing it in the film. Mostly, it is the side characters that are written best.
Predictability runs all through the plot. The second half typically gets all the lead characters in one place and thus begins the chaos. It could have been more tightly written since, multiple sub-plots kill all the fun.
A drunk Guddu and Pakistani police, Afridi (Piyush Mishra) discussing Urdu and not Kashmir, Bilal convincing his father about seeing his late mother’s ghost to cover-up for Happy’s movements in the house make up for hilarious scenes.
Happy Bhag Jayegi Review: Star Performance
Diana Penty was last seen in her debut film Cocktail. With Happy Bhag Jayegi, the actress attempts to play the feisty Punjabi girl Happy. Quite contrasting to her previous role, Penty has put efforts for this role and it is quite evident. She does not come off as convincing enough but I’d still laud her efforts to take that up.
Abhay Deol is thoroughly impressive as Bilal Ahmed. He looks suave, his act is good.
Ali Fazal plays the lover boy Guddu. Shown to be an emotional character, Fazal does a decent job.
Jimmy Shergill once again does not get the girl in the film. His act of Bagga, who is a partial villain is quite likable.
Piyush Mishra as the Pakistani cop does a great job. His comic timing is spot on.
Pakistani actress Momal Sheikh is seen as Bilal’s fiancee in the film. She does an average job and fails to stand out in an already talented cast.
Happy Bhag Jayegi Review: Direction, Music
Mudassar Aziz’s last directorial film was Dulha Mil Gaya, which not many may remember. His latest outing although, promises that the director seems to have got some talent. In spite of a cliched story at hand, Aziz manages to make a film that’s a breezy entertainer.
The Indo-Pak angle works in favor of the film and one of cleverest scene relating to the relations between the two countries is when we see Bilal enjoying a game of Cricket in the bylanes of Amritsar. After hitting two sixes, he causally mentions being from Pakistan and the kid bowling, immediately gets him bold saying “Pehle bataya hota Pakistan se ho.”
While the first half is easy, a chaotic second half pulls this film down. Also, the climax is extremely hurried and is poorly executed.
The background score of the film needed some serious thought. It does not blend well with the film’s story.
Music of the film too could have been much better. There is not a single foot tapping number for the spunky Happy to prove her character’s crazy side. The romantic numbers are quite passable.
Happy Bhag Jayegi Review: The Last Word
Happy Bhag Jayegi is a breezy entertainer that has its moments. This the kind of film one enjoys as a TV-watch at best. I’m going with a 2.5/5 for this!
Happy Bhag Jayegi Trailer
Happy Bhag Jayegi releases on 19th Aug, 2016.
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