Dream Girl 2 Review: A low-brow comedy that is content with cheap thrills

The Hindi film Dream Girl 2 is directed by Raaj Shaandilyaa and stars Ayushmann Khurrana, Ananya Panday, Annu Kapoor, Manjot Singh, Abhishek Banerjee, Paresh Rawal, Seema Pahwa

Where can you watch Dream Girl 2 in the UAE?

Dream Girl 2 is currently playing in cinemas in the UAE. You can book your tickets at VOX Cinemas and Reel Cinemas.

Dream Girl 2 review

In Dream Girl, the 2019 predecessor to this sequel, Ayushmann Khurrana played mere lip service to being a woman, probably literally. He posed as a woman, using a false voice, on a phone sex chat line. At no point he changed his attire or his mien. And the jokes and gags of the genre were mostly kept at an acceptably adult level.

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In Dream Girl 2, however, the Ayushmann Khurrana character goes the hog and pretends to be a woman physically too. And it shows in the comic lines and situations as they are downright bawdy and risque.  Director Raaj Shaandilyaa, who helmed the original too, makes it clear right from the start that he is not here for some overarching ambitious attempt. Instead, he plays his cards clear and settles for cheap thrills and easy laughs with the glee of a pimply teenager. 

The film, set in Mathura,  reprises the characters of Karamveer (Ayushmann Khurrana), his girlfriend Pari Shrivastav (Ananya Panday, in the first one this role was played by  Nushrratt Bharuccha), his dad Jagjit Singh (Annu Kapoor) and his best friend Smiley (Manjot Singh). Financial strife made Karam take up a job as a female in a sex chat service in the original film. Here, pecuniary demands from his girlfriend’s dad and his own father’s financial improvidence force him to take up a job as — why not? — a woman nightclub dancer (Pooja).

Things go lasciviously haywire as the nightclub owner (Vijay Raaz) falls for her charm, and so does the psychiatrist Shoukiya (Rajpal Yadav). There is also Shahrukh (Abhishek Banerjee), who wants to get married to Pooja while his own sister Jumani (Seema Pahwa) is smitten by Karam. As you can see, everyone is after one woman who is a man.  

Normally Ayushmann Khurrana has some underlying social message or an interesting layer behind his nouveau attempts. Within the ambit of mainstream fun, he aims for some lofty goals. There is no such redemption here. Dream Girl 2 delivers what you would suspect in a movie where a man masquerades as a woman — double entendre lines and crass capers based on mistaken identity. Dream Girl 2 doesn’t hold back in any manner —  Ayushmann Khurrana, as a woman is chased by a couple of lusty men, and Ayushmann Khurrana as an older woman covets a man. It’s nothing serious but only superficial comic level. But it lays bare the film’s intention — low-brow humour. Writers Raaj and Naresh Kathooria milk the situations to their heart’s content, going for one adult line after the other. Bathroom and bedroom jokes tumble out of one another in vulgar profusion.

Ayushmann Khurrana is without doubt first rate. As Pooja, he is sensual and agreeably fun. His faux coquetry — the centre point of such roles —  is screamingly delightful. Among the frontline Bollywood heroes, his comedic timing has to be the best. His deadpan delivery in seemingly tight situations is a pleasure. Ananya Pandya has nothing much to do. A talking cardboard of her would have also sufficed here. Annu Kapoor as Karamveer’s dad is a hoot. He makes even double-meaning lines easy and fun. Vijay Raaz, Rajpal Yadav, and Abhishek Banerjee, all after Pooja’s heart or something more physical, are all fine. But the lewd characterisation doesn’t allow them to be fun all through. Seema Pahwa, as the one chasing Karam, is as always impressive. 

If Dream Girl 1 was akin to playful flirtation, Dream Girl 2 seems closer to a lustful encounter.

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