‘Dream Girl’ Movie Review: Ayushmann Khurrana’s hilarious drag act as Pooja shouldn’t be missed

Directed By
Raaj Shaandilyaa

Produced By
Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, Nachiket Pantvaidya

Cast
Ayushmann Khurrana, Nushrat Bharucha, Annu Kapoor, Manjot Singh, Vijay Raaz, Abhishek Banerjee, Raj Bhansali, Rajesh Sharma, Nidhi Bisht, Shashi Ranjan, Riteish Deshmukh

Bollywood Bubble Rating
4/5

What’s It About:
Unable to get employment anywhere despite being well qualified, Ayushmann Khurrana latches on to a job at a friendship call center. His job is to harp on to his childhood quirk of talking in a girl’s voice, and seduce sexually and mentally frustrated people for them to get some respite from their daily monotonous lives. Turning into Pooja, Ayushmann Khurrana makes men and women fall in love with his voice, so much so that they are even ready to come to blows with each other trying to decide who would get to marry Pooja. His would-be brother-in-law and his own dad, also turn victims of Pooja’s fantasies. Will Ayushmann be able to save his life from turning into a mess caused by his female voice? Well, you’ll have to watch the movie for that.

What’s Hot:
Ayushmann Khurrana is hot not just in the literal sense but even his acting proves it. His portrayal of a guy who is stuck with the ability to master a woman’s voice since childhood is impeccable. His facial expressions in pretty much every scene make you guffaw and, at times, go ROFL. Even when Ayushmann is doing a drag act, he is totally believable and looks authentic.

Annu Kapoor as Ayushmann’s dad has come up with another stellar performance. The way he transforms completely from a possessive middle-class dad to a total rockstar father trying to woo a girl he has spoken to on the phone is terrific. He has punch lines in every dialogue and that will leave you wishing you see more and more of him.

Vijay Raaz, as the police constable may have had a smaller screen space, but he kills it even in that. His un-rhyming Shayari’s to his antics while he talks to Pooja on the phone is simply unmatchable. Even the girl who plays his wife has some great punch dialogues with Vijay Raaz.

Abhishek Banerjee, Nidhi Bisht, Manjot Singh are equally good in their portrayals. They too have their share of hilarious one-liners, some of which will stick onto you even when you come out of the theater.

Now that we have done talking about the brilliant performances, let’s talk about the best part of the movie – the story and screenplay. Both the director (Raaj Shaandilyaa) and writer (Nirmaan D. Singh, Raaj Shaandilyaa) have managed to come up with a winner, which keeps you entertained all through. There is hardly a dull frame in the film.

The music of the film is decent. Tracks like ‘Radhe Radhe’, ‘Gat Gat’ and ‘Dil Ka Telephone’ will stick onto you for a while.

The cinematography is also good considering it’s been shot in a small town of Mathura. The camera work shows the city’s lanes and by-lanes in its pristine beauty, which for a movie connoisseur like me, matters a great deal. Good job!

Special mention to the lady who played Dadi to Nushrat Bharucha and Abhishek Banerjee. She stole the scene as the kickass Dadi in the 3-4 scenes that she has.

Not to forget the message given out in the climax is something that we all can relate to. Am not going any spoilers here about that, but trust me, it’s true in everyone’s life, and a major cause of people being unhappy in today’s world.

What’s Not:
Nushrat Bharucha could have had more screen space. Probably, because the role was much lesser than the other supporting cast, no other bigger heroines would have taken it up. Therefore, Nushrat’s small yet commendable performance seems to keep you wanting for more from her side.

The jokes and punch lines are hilarious no doubt, but they would, in all fairness, be understood in their true sense by people who are from the Northern and Eastern part of India. Maybe, just maybe, for an urban lot in the metro cities, some of the punch lines might go over the top and thereby it can bring a feeling of the movie trying to get some forced laughter.

Rest pretty much there’s nothing as such wrong in the storyline.

Verdict:
MUST WATCH! If laughter is your drug, ‘Dream Girl’ is your poison. I am going with a 4 star for Ayushmann Khurrana’s terrific Pooja act, the stellar performance by the supporting cast and the brilliant writing by Nirmaan D. Singh and Raaj Shaandilyaa.

Box-Office:
Considering Ayushmann Khurrana is on a roll with some great stories, this one will get its due audience. The movie, despite being released on a non-holiday weekend, will manage to earn the big bucks at the ticket windows.

Watch Trailer:

Also Read: ‘Pehlwaan’ Movie Review: Kichcha Sudeep-Suniel Shetty come up with a hotchpotch version of Salman Khan’s ‘Sultan’

Prateek Sur

Born a Movie Buff, working as a Film Critique and enjoying life as a Bollywood Reporter.

Email: editor@bollywoodbubble.com Phone: +91 8355910465