Happy phir bhaag jaayegi promises to double the fun we had while watching the first one. The original made for a great watch thanks to a great cast and some really good one-liners. The sequel matches up to it and it is definitely funny.
To begin with, the sequel starts from where the first film ends. Happy (Diana Penty) and Guddu (Ali Fazal) are now married. Guddu is invited to China 'with wife' to sing at a function there. They reach Shanghai but someone else reaches the venue that they are supposed to go. And that other person is Harpreet Kaur aka Happy (Sonakshi Sinha). So these group of Chinese underworld gang want the first Happy to blackmail Bilal from Pakistan ( which was played by Abhay Deol in the original) to make his father Javed, who is in power now, to honour a contract that they struck with a Chinese company. But unfortunately, they capture the wrong Happy. Add to that the old favourites Bagga, Usmaan Afridi and new addition Kushwant Singh (Jassie Gill). After a lot of chases, Harpreet realises someone in her team is not on her side.
The second half is equally hilarious. And its about how sonakshi aka the new happy finds her to be husband and gets a shock of her lifetime.
But finally the whole team reaches india happily with new partners.
Its a one time watch. Pakistan haters and funny liners lovers will get a paisa vasool .
The funny one-liners are the lifelines of the first half. Plus, Jimmy Sheirgill and Piyush Mishra's banter make it a really fun watch.
Sonakshi Sinha and singer Jassie Gill are the new additions to the original that was dominated by Diana Penty as the feisty Punjabi lass who does a runner in her wedding to Baaga. There’s very little of Penty in the second instalment. But we aren’t complaining. Sinha, as Harpreet Kaur, stands tall among a talented set of actors. The adage, ‘what’s in a name?’, gathers a whole new meaning when kidnappings orchestrated by goofy villains in slick suits go wrong when they pick up the wrong woman with the same name at the airport. The moment the two Happys (Sinha and Penty) set foot on the China soil, all hell breaks loose.
Gill, as the unassuming Indian expatriate in China who is reluctantly pulled into Happy’s [Sinha] messy world, is a revelation. He displays a quiet confidence and it’s heartening to watch him spar with Baaga — who’s also thrown into the identity mix-up crises.
The spine of any comedy relies a lot on its ineffective, zany villains. HPBJ has its fair share of them. Actor Denzil Smith as a suave and erudite businessman — with a penchant for teaching the Chinese how to make a biryani and not just their sticky rice in his down time — builds a good case for himself. He’s polished on the surface, but rotten inside. If you ask what his crime is, then I wouldn’t be able to answer because the conflicts are way too convoluted in this comedy.
director Aziz milks it to the last drop he keep the film super entertaining.
I give it 3.5*
