Good to see Abhay Deol back in the groove after his disastrous previous outing One By Two, and the very pretty very swish-in-her-designer-threads Momal Sheikh (a popular TV actor who also happens to be Javed Sheikh’s daughter) gives him something to work on. In fact, the film has several striking resemblances to TWM, which makes sense because Happy Bhag Jayegi is an Anand L Rai production too. No, really.Īnd some are too familiar: Fazal has a thankless part and never lifts off the screen Shergill has some funny lines but he is essentially doing a repeat of his Tanu Weds Manu part. Fazal has a thankless part and never lifts off the screen: imagine being termed a musician and never getting to play or strum or sing. Penty has a wide-eyed appeal and an infectious smile but she is not a good fit for a Punjabi ‘pataka’. If you want me to suspend disbelief and buy into your wholly contrived plot, you have to be able to write your way past the contrivances. But despite its occasional throwaway lines, and nice touches, it never comes together.
Fervent Pakistani cop (Piyush Mishra) who loves some things Hindustani (Taj Mahal, Yusuf saab), Bilal’s father (Javed Sheikh) who wants him to join politics, and his beautiful betrothed (Momal Sheikh) who looks askance at this new girl: is the Indian Happy about to sink her hooks into her all-Pakistani Bilal?ĭone well, Happy Bhag Jayegi could have been a rollicking comedy. The film spends a substantial amount of time in Pakistan, and a whole bunch of colourful characters trying out their Urdu.
There is some of it, but it is far too intermittent. Spirited Amritsar kudi Happy’s (Diana Penty) heart beats for Guddu (Ali Fazal) but the path of true love is strewn with stern fathers (Kanwaljeet), local bad boy rival Bagga (Jimmy Shergill) and an accidental Pakistani gentleman named Bilal Ahmed (Abhay Deol).īut all too soon, the pleasures of the film dwindle, and we are left to fend for ourselves, looking for something that will make us laugh, even if it is weak laughter. The premise of Happy Bhag Jayegi, promises you some good chuckles because, well, who doesn’t like the idea of a pretty girl on the run in search of her Prince Charming? And the Pakistani locations-the scenic spots around Lahore– should inject some freshness, right?
What if an Indian girl wakes up in Pakistan one fine morning? And what if she finds, gasp, the one she’s looking for across the border?