Dream Girl 2: The Kapil Sharma Show With A Budget

Raaj Shaandilyaa’s Dream Girl 2 is a spiritual sequel to his hit 2019 outing. It makes little sense. Apart from the protagonist and his propensity to play-act as a woman to earn money, there is little in common. Sure the main characters are reprised but even if they were not, it would not have mattered. Nothing does. Dream Girl 2 is hardly a film. What makes sense though is that before directing, Shaandilyaa’s background in television involved writing for comedian Kapil Sharma and for shows like Comedy Circus. This detail fits like a glove.

Dream Girl 2 unfolds as an episode straight out of the comedy shows except it has a budget, more actors and pretends to be a film. At all times, multiple characters enter and exit the frame. They wear exaggerated wigs, speak absolute nonsense and cushion it with two offensive punchlines. There is no semblance of a plot, no space for logic. There is one caricature after another, meeting in a world which is more dated than the current David Dhawan films and more unfunny than the whole Housefull franchise.

It feels like betrayal. For one, Ayushmann Khurrana is the protagonist. His filmography might not be varied but the prospect of social messaging lends some value to his outings. Keeping the good and the bad aside, the actor’s presence in films signifies something. Then there is the fact that this is a sequel. Dream Girl (2019) is not the most well-made film out there but there is something to be said about its intent of addressing male loneliness and desire through the premise of men spending all their time talking with a girl who does not exist. Through uneven results and a really overwrought monologue, it subverted the stereotype of inattentive men by foregrounding their willingness to talk if there is someone wanting to listen. To repeat myself: there was something.

In comparison Dream Girl 2 is a blob of nothing. It is so much of nothing that candy floss seems to have more substance in comparison. It is so much of nothing that ​​Tiger Shroff looks more emotive in comparison. It is so much of nothing that even the dark abyss of life assumes meaning in comparison. It is so much of nothing that halfway through watching the film I was certain all of this was a bad dream and later, being unable to wake up (because I was already up), I contemplated every bad deed I have ever done, convinced this is how my life will end — not with a bang but with a whimper. My whimper. If you think this is an exaggeration, I am not the only one guilty of it.

Dream Girl 2 opens in Mathura. Karam (Khurrana) is still trying to find a job and his father Jagjit Singh (the forever under-utilised Annu Kapoor) is still drowning in loans. Although there are mild references to Karam’s previous job (where he spoke to lonely men over the phone posing as a woman called ‘Pooja’), they are not much stressed on. What remains common is Karam being proficient in channelling a female voice and taking every distressing opportunity to use it. Previously it was his father’s mounting debt which pushed him to work at a call center. This time it is the conditions set forth by the father of the girl he loves. . Karam needs to have at least 25-30 lakhs in his bank and a job within six months to get married to Pari (Ananya Panday with an accent more inconsistent than Prithvi Shaw’s current form). Thus, Karam does what is the most natural thing in the world to do: he wears a wig and a ghagra choli, uses two oranges as breasts, and becomes bar dancer ‘Pooja’.

What happens from here is obvious. All the characters either fall in love with Pooja (which includes the bar owner Goldie essayed by Vijay Raaz, and a bank employee called Tiger Pandey played by Ranjan Raj) or with Karam (Pari, and an elderly woman called Jumani played by Seema Pahwa). The way it happens though is the literal translation of random. Shaandilyaa’s urge to make a skit out of his film is so strong that he introduces a whole family to cover as much ground as possible in the land of offensive jokes. He is in such a dearth of ideas that he makes plot points of the anecdotes he had introduced in the first film, like Smiley having a Muslim girlfriend.

In Dream Girl 2, Karam’s resident best friend Smiley (Manjot Singh) has a Muslim girlfriend. We don’t see or hear of her till it is stated. Fair enough. She has a liberal father (Paresh Rawal), a ‘sad’ brother (Abhishek Bannerjee), two useless brothers, an alcoholic half-brother (Rajpal Yadav), and an aunt (Pahwa) whose hobbies include getting married. Their house is designed with an abundance of green. They conclude every sentence with “haaye allah”. Their names are Abu Saleem, Shah Rukh, Ali Salim. You know the drill.

Back to the story: Abu Saleem approves of Smiley and his daughter’s match but insists that they can only get married after his son Shah Rukh is ‘cured’ of depression. Smiley asks for Karam’s help. Because this is a joke and we get the films we deserve, Karam does what is the most natural thing in the world to do: wears a wig and a salwar kameez, takes two oranges for breasts and arrives as Pooja the psychiatrist. He could have as well have turned up as Karam but the drag must go on.

Post this, it is impossible to put into words what happens. There are multiple deaths and weddings. There is a man supposedly depressed who is told that he will “become normal” soon; there is a queer man who gets horny when his wife touches him because he senses a “manly touch”; there is a Muslim family reduced to the worst of caricatures; there is a female protagonist whose only job is to only appear ditzy; there is a man who lies and gaslights her till the end, making her feel like the bad person for not trusting him. There is a scene where a man tells his wife, “Tum woh flop picture ho jo humne sirf interval ke baad se dekha hai (You are that flop picture which I have seen only after the interval)”. I cannot think of the last time a film was offensive to so many people, all at the same time.

There is no writing here, neither is there any intent. Khurrana gives one of his least likable performances. Panday just exists. Every scene appears to be shot for the personal amusement of the makers. By all intent and purposes, Dream Girl 2 is a WhatsApp forward gone long. But this really cannot be it. How can a vacuous film like this be conceived, involve so many people and convince these many gifted actors to be part of it? There has to be a reason for Karam to grab every opportunity that exists and pose as women despite disliking it as much. There has to be a reason for men to fall in love with her just by hearing her voice. There has to be a reason for Khurrana doing this empty-vessel of a film. I think I know what it is. Dream Girl 2 is not a departure in the actor’s trajectory; like all his other films it too bears a social message: subliminally, Shaandilyaa’s new film is a scathing commentary on the lack of employment in the country, a pointed jab at…ah well, I give up.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of OTTplay. The author is solely responsible for any claims arising out of the content of this column.)