Dream Girl 2 (2023) Review!!

Synopsis – Karam, who is trying to live a serious life in Mathura and falls in love with Pari but life is hell bent on not taking him seriously. In a turn of events Karam becomes Pooja which creates further chaos in his already chaotic life.

My Take – Hindi cinema has seen its fair share of gender-bending comedies in the likes of Rafoo Chakkar (1975), Chachi 420 (1997), Aunty No. 1 (1998), Apna Sapna Money Money (2006) and Paying Guests (2009), with each film finding its share of the audience, yet never making to any must-see lists.

This latest attempt from director Raaj Shaandilyaa will too appear in the same category at least when they talk about similarities. Acting as spiritual sequel to the 2019 film Dream Girl, which found immense appreciation and box office success at the time of its release as audience lapped up Ayushmann Khurrana‘s act of a sexy female phone-sex operator named Pooja.

However, this time around, he goes the whole nine yards, not just by doing a good job of using his high-pitched voice to create ripples among males, but by diving into drag, applying layers of foundation to smooth his stubble and going full on sexy lady. And while the resulting film struggles to recapture the original’s quirky charm, for a one time watch, it is audacious, unapologetic and entertaining enough.

Structured as a combination of Govinda era gags and zany sub plots, the film manages to keep one chuckling throughout with its wit and downright hilarious humor and gags, but only if director Shaandilyaa and co-writer Naresh Kathooria had worked a bit more on its poorly structured screenplay and execution.

Nevertheless, the overall experience of watching Pooja in her true element getting caught up in some crazy situations is quite fun. Without a doubt, Ayushmann Khurrana shoulders the entire film which his charming presence and makes his adventure of Pooja and Karam believable in the most absurd of situations.

The story follows Karamveer “Karam” Singh (Ayushmann Khurrana), a jobless Jagrata singer and dancer who along with his father, Jagjit Singh (Annu Kapoor), is has been in a deep financial hole for a while, living in a tattered mansion that is mortgaged to the hilt.

Yet that doesn’t stop him from being in romantic relationship with a lawyer named Pari (Ananya Panday), with the both wishing to get married soon. Unfortunately for them, Pari’s father (Manoj Joshi) is dead against the marriage, as he wants his son-in-law to have a steady job and a solid bank balance, giving him six months to fulfill his conditions.

But being just a 12th class pass with no other experience whatsoever, Karam has zero prospects other than to use his good ability of imitating a female voice and pick up a job cross dressed as a female bar dancer named Pooja on the advice of his best friend, Smiley (Manjot Singh). However, things begin to get complicated when the bar’s owner, Sona Bhai (Vijay Raaz), begins to have feelings for Pooja.

To further complicate matters, Pooja also heads to become a pretend psychiatrist to treat Shahrukh (Abhishek Banerjee), who has been depressed since a breakup, all in the hopes of picking up the reward money offered by his wealthy father, Abu Saleem (Paresh Rawal). Amid this, Abu Saleem’s sister Jumani (Seema Pahwa) falls for Karam while his father Jagjit crushes hard on her. All leading to a crazy maze of misunderstandings and laughter.

Running for 134 minutes, there is never a dull moment here. The one-line punches land well, and evoke laughter, especially in the first half without going too over the top. The story moves at a quick pace as director Shaandilyaa wastes no time to get to the point. With most of the gags and one-liners making up for the loopholes in the story-line. The confusion in the core plot until the interval will remind you of the good old Govinda comedies, as a lie for one is the truth for the other, which is again a lie for the third person.

While the story sets itself up for a blast at the interval point, the proceedings in the post-interval portions are not as entertaining. Though the one-liners keep coming from the characters, the plot goes a little haywire. Particularly as the formula of gags in the screenplay don’t land well – be it the entire sequence feature Sudesh Lehri or the extended climax. Pooja’s existence and the reason she seems likeable has a context, so when that premise starts unraveling, the film begins to go astray.

Nevertheless, the film deserves a watch for Ayushmann Khurrana‘s performance, proving his versatility yet again. Here, he skillfully switches between playing Karam and Pooja’s characters. Given his mettle to make even the shoddiest of scripts somewhat palatable, Ayushmann excels as Pooja. Everything from his voice to his walk to the flutter of his eyelids is impeccable. Ananya Panday brings the right element of innocence in her performance and deserved more screen time.

It also helps that the Ayushmann is well supported by a stack of excellent performers like Paresh Rawal, Vijay Raaz, Seema Pahwa, Rajpal Yadav, Annu Kapoor, Abhishek Banerjee, Manoj Joshi, Ranjan Raj, Asrani and Manjot Singh, who bring most of the hilarity to the film. On the whole, ‘Dream Girl 2’ is a vintage comic caper anchored by Ayushmann Khurrana‘s hilarious switcheroo.