Dream Girl movie review: Overdone, but decent, harmless comedy

Dream Girl is usually bouncing with been-there-heard-that jokes that mass audiences are guaranteed to laugh at – they digest its largely naughty humour (plus some sanitized below-the-belt jokes).

The ‘punch’ lines just keep coming and coming, so there is no time to ponder on the illogical parts. The story merely serves as a prop for the contrived situations, there may be a whiff of a social message, before the rushed, convenient end.

Dream Girl is exactly that kind of small town funny stage play magnified and pushed up with a flood of punch lines rushing through the loosely bound story, a superb ensemble cast and exciting central premise. The stage play mode adds to the film’s laughter-inducing advantages but also limits Dream Girl to a passable comedy movie and nothing more. The Ayushmann Khurrana entry is a hoot, and sets up a nice, pleasant tone from the movie.

Quirky ideas, OK execution
In yet another, now increasingly familiar Hindi movie small town setting, Karamveer (Ayushmann Khurrana) is a actor specially picked out to play female roles in mythological plays. Karamveer’s rendition of the female voice makes him a respected, popular name in his locality. Meanwhile, he is unable to find a job until destiny comes knocking in the form of a sleazy call center opportunity. The comedy of errors and undue attractions that follow make up the rest of the plot.

Raaj Shaandilyaa, credited for all the risque and sometimes funny jokes on Sony TV’s Comedy Circus and the popular weekend shows featuring comedian Kapil Sharma, makes his directorial debut here. He lets out the same tried and tested formula and thankfully most jokes work, despite the plastic, boxed story line with easily resolved loopholes and a non-happening climax.

Dream Girl cast saves the day
Ayushmann is first-rate as Karamveer, and his female-voice rendition is a class act. His already impressive exuberant acting talent keeps getting better. His Vicky Donor partner-in-crime, the underrated Annu Kapoor pulls off a underwritten, unconvincing father act with practiced, honed craft.

Nushrat Bharucha does a spirited act despite the brief ‘mandatory heroine’ role. Manjot Singh (Fukrey, Fukrey Returns) puts in a good sporting  performance as the hero’s Punjabi friend, as does Abhishek Banerjee, so good in Stree.

The brilliant Vijay Raaz cracks his poetic policeman part with relative ease, while the talented Rajesh Sharma is saddled with a underwritten villainous part that doesn’t register. Popular web series regular Nidhi Bisht is given a half-baked (supposedly) ‘lesbian’ track, the writers are to blame for not going bold for laughs here.

Dream Girl review 
So if you like the kind of jokes that go into the skit-based anything goes format of The Kapil Sharma Show, there are, to be fair, a lot of better, genuinely hilarious jokes here and the laughter keeps coming. Go for Ayushmann’s amazing, balanced act and some great laughs.

Dream Girl is not a class act, but a harmless, rushed comedy that is an OK ‘time-pass’ watch at best and a potential comedy blockbuster of the season, despite its many faults.