Movie Review: Happy Bhag Jayegi..doesn’t leave you all that happy

Its not so bad that you’ll want to run away from the hall before it reaches its intermission but with its forced humor, over-acted performances and ultimately weak script – there is little in Happy Bhaag Jayegi that leaves you grinning ear to ear.

What starts off as a fresh approach to what may seem as an Indian version of The Runaway Bride, morphs every 20 minutes into something that is hard to connect with or feel a part of. Character development is practically non-existent and while there is definite potential with the setup, there is a marked lack of finesse in the execution – leaving pretty much everything up to the performances.

Unfortunately, the performances disappoint as well. Abhay Deol, otherwise Mr. Dependable, is surprisingly way off key – especially in the first half. Jimmy Shergill has a fairly straight forward character and he does fair justice to it. Happy, played quite sincerely by Diana Penty is supposed to be the hallmark of the show, but try as she does – Diana fails to deliver her lines naturally. She is quite the pretty picture to look at and her expression is mostly right, but the dialogue delivery disappoints, especially as a Punjabi kudi, she just doesn't make the cut. Apart from that there is Faizal Khan who has a barely noticeable role and Momal Sheikh who's role demanded a better actor. Finally, there is Piyush Mishra, who is a pleasure to watch despite the side act. However, saddled with mostly unfunny lines and situations, there is little that he can do beyond a point.

Humor is perhaps the toughest to pull off – so I’d still applaud the attempt to generate some clean humor. This one is totally a family movie with not one scene being ‘kids unfriendly’. The only problem is I don’t know how much even the kids are going to enjoy this one.

The background score makes all the suggestions that something very funny is about to be done or said, but that rarely happens. Instead, it becomes a crutch to hold up what little humor there is in a particular scene. There are digs on the India Pakistan relationship, Pakistan in general and when it reaches a point of making jokes on the Urdu language – the desperation to make you laugh is clear as day.

The songs, while somewhat melodious, don’t help matters much and only lengthen the already tedious proceedings. Thankfully they move in line with the narrative so they don’t slow things as much. Happy Bhag Gayee is a case of great potential, that is completely squandered away. There are other films that have done this kind of stuff and done it far better. Unfortunately, that’s the only thought you come away with after the roughly 2 hours runtime.


That said, I do feel that if movies like ‘Mere Brother ki Dulhan’ and ‘Dolly ki Doli’ were up your alley, you’d probably enjoy this one too. However, if you are hoping for something more, then Happy Bhag Jayegi is not the one to run to.

Movie Review: Jason Bourne…I wouldn’t stand in line for this

The Bourne Ultimatum..even the slightest recollection of the last (and arguably finest) in this legendary trilogy sets the pulse racing and the adrenaline soaring. It was the perfect swan song for Bourne and ended on just the right note. What then is the point of Jason Bourne, the next installment (I disregard Bourne Legacy to have anything to do with this series) to be released? Unfortunately, as you exit the theater roughly two hours later, you still haven’t found any answers.

To adapt from the trademark Moby soundtrack that accompanies the series, the movie doesn’t sink to such depths that one would say ‘it fell apart’ but it does come pretty darn close. The only reason things still manage to stay together is due to the genius at the helm – Paul Greengrass. I’ve said it earlier and I’ll say it again – the man has such a vision for action, its hard not to get sucked in. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that even he gets somewhat exposed in this mish mash of action scenes with the weakest plot of the series and a climax that seems like it is part of the Fast and Furious series, rather than Jason Bourne.

There is nothing horribly wrong with Jason Bourne per se – if you can forgive its weak plot. The shaky camera is there, the tension is somewhat there, Heather is no Pamela Landy but Alicia Vikander gives her everything she’s got – but then its all been done before and done way better. What had your rapt attention in Ultimatum is that the quality of action was lifted to a whole new level. It wasn’t just about bullet holes, bombs and fancy devices – the action had the smarts. You felt as if you are seeing things from the mind of Jason Bourne – the master agent and that was enthralling. This time too, while the attempt is to do that, there are no ‘aha’ moments of shock and disbelief at what Bourne just managed to pull off despite the odds being against him.

If I were to rename this particular installment – I’d call it The Bourne Chronicles  or Jason Bourne – Just another day, because that’s what it feels like. It doesn’t feel like Bourne got tested, the opponents were smart or that Bourne was a whole lot smarter. Maybe if I hadn’t seen Ultimatum, I’d not expect so much – but having witnessed that brilliance, this installment almost seems lazy and contrived.

On a positive note though, the new version of Extreme Ways that plays in the end credits is way more exciting than the previous ones.

I won’t say that its so bad you shouldn’t go for it – it has all the trademark features of a Paul Greengrass offering and that alone makes it worth a visit. But I wouldn’t hold my heartbeat for this one. Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass may be back, but it looks like Jason Bourne is still missing.