‘Dream Girl’ Film Review: LAUGH AND BE MERRY ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The film revolves around a man named Lokesh Bisht (Ayushmann Khurana) who can speak in a female’s voice. Because of his unique talent, he finds a job at a female friendship call center and has a chat with all as Pooja. From the local cop to his girlfriend’s brother, everybody is struck by Dream Girl Pooja and her mesmerizing voice. Many people fall in love with Pooja and start searching for her. This leads to a lot of confusion followed by a series of unusual, crazy situations. People in the film end up sharing thoughts and feelings with Ayushmann. The film shows how they: Vijay Raaz, Abhishek Banerjee, Nidhi Bisht, and others get trapped and then come out.

Dream girl is a tour de force enlivened enormously by solid contributions from each and every technical department and the superlative turns from the principal actors. The cast is led admirably well by the splendid Ayushmann Khurana. The magnificently malleable, Ayushmann is a man for all seasons who invariably seems to be a step ahead of the demands of the screenplay.

Ayushmann delivers superb performance. He never ceases to impress. Some actors overpower you into submission with their sheer charm and Ayushmann is one of them. His comic timing (including three accents) is a revelation in this movie and he succeeds in making the audience laugh. This is going be his sixth consecutive hit. His comedy scenes with Manjot Singh and Annu Kapoor stand out for their sheer entertainment value. Nushrat Bharucha looks promising and delivers a good performance. The on-screen chemistry between Ayushmann and Nushrat is a treat to watch. Annu Kapoor is terrific as the father who is hell-bent on making his mark as an actor even though the screen timing is limited. Annu Kapoor is a major asset to this movie. Manjot Singh, Vijay Raaz, Abhishek Banerjee, Rajesh Sharma, Raj Bhansali, Nidhi Bisht & Shashi Ranjan with their performances all set pieces and fine examples of how to underplay and over-impress.

Some dialogues don’t do proper justice to the absurd situations, and the lines are often underwritten – though this is less evident when greats like Annu Kapoor and Vijay Raaz show up. Raaj Shaandilya’s strength is a comedy. He has a knack for bringing the best comic performances (Comedy Circus) and in Dream girl it’s no different. This is a dream directorial debut for any director.

So who’s the real hero of the film? Is it writer Raaj Shaandilya who has given Bollywood one of its smartest scripts to hit the horizon since a long long time? As a comedy, Dream girl is such a refreshing change from the run-of-the-mill Hindi film laugh riot which almost always borders on the juvenile. The humour is all situational, beautifully woven in the script and never having to depend on a banana peel skid. Grow up all you comedy filmmakers who insist on treating your audience as retards! All in all, Dream girl is a fine example of how the brightest and the funniest, when they pool in their talent, can create a film that is guaranteed to give you your money’s worth, even as it re-writes all the moth-balled rules of an ageing industry. Enjoy the experience!

Star Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

By Dr. Nitya Prakash