I Watched Ayushmann Khurrana’s Dream Girl And The Only Good Thing About It Is The Trailer.

I Watched Ayushmann Khurrana’s Dream Girl And The Only Good Thing About It Is The Trailer.

When you have an Ayushmann Khurrana movie releasing on Friday, you drop all plans and go for it. At least that’s what I do. I really wanted to watch Dream Girl this weekend itself, without having to wait another week. So when bae tried to move it to another time, I threw tantrums and put my foot down, only to later regret it in embarrassment. We did go for the movie, and literally all shows were going full. So I wasn’t the only one who was in a hurry to consume all the comedy this movie promised us. The trailer is damn funny, so the expectations were high. I mean, if the sneak peek is this good, the movie has got to be phenomenal, right? That many more jokes!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B16p1tVgwiB/

Is It Funny?

First things first, the movie undoubtedly had several funny dialogues, but it felt like the characters had to somehow fit all those in and they were running out of time. None of the funny moments were fully explored; rather it felt like there are several jokes being thrown at you, mechanically. Like a very active Whatsapp group where people are trying to outdo each other at being funny. We have all been part of those. At the end of it, do I remember any of those “funny moments”? No. They didn’t stay with me.

What About The Story?

Ironically, it felt like the story took forever to reach anywhere, and even after all that time taken, I felt it never really took off. I don’t blame the storyline, it seemed interesting, at least on paper. A guy who has a unique ability to pull off playing female characters, and somehow lands up in a shady friendship call centre out of sheer desperation. Yup, sounds good. He talks to lonely customers posing as a woman. Of course, that wasn’t his dream job but there were loans to be paid off and so he set on a journey of pleasing shady men (and a woman) with lovey-dovey conversations. Somehow, they all fall in love with this woman and he doesn’t know how to get out of the mess. That’s a concept that we have never witnessed, so I strongly believe it could have been a good movie. What makes it dull are the scenes which do nothing to take the story forward. It feels like you’re in a merry-go-round – half way into the movie, and the story has still not progressed.

Watch the trailer here:

What’s With The Stereotypical Characters?

One of the men to have fallen in love with this fictitious woman is Karamveer’s (Ayushmann) own father. To deter him from pursuing Puja (Karamveer’s call center name), he pretends that Puja is a muslim woman. And what’s even more fucked up is that after he gave up on the idea of marrying her because of her religion (waah), Karamveer actually indulges in a lengthy discussion on how inter-religion marriages are cool. When I say lengthy, I mean so lengthy that you can go to the washroom, get yourself a tub of popcorn, produce your first-born with someone you met at the cinema, come back and the discussion would still be on. Like us, he lost the plot too, I suppose. What followed is a hideously stereotypical representation of Islam with his father painting his house green and hair burgundy, learning Urdu overnight and opening an ittar shop, also overnight.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2bELcspAqI/

In fact, all this movie has done is stereotype every character. A woman whose heart has been broken by three men has to turn into a lesbian. Sure, that’s how people come out of the closet. On the other hand, expect a typical aashiq from the 90s, who will slit his wrist when rejected. A wife will only speak through taunts and sarcasm and a balbrahmachari will act like a simpleton, as if having sex is what gives you the brains.

What felt even more fictitious than Karamveer’s catfishing avatar is the personality of his fiancée, Dolly (Nushrat Bharucha). This woman gets impressed by a guy at her grandfather’s funeral. It used to be weddings, but now, apparently it’s the funerals where you get to meet hot guys. So uninstall Tinder and just wait for someone to die. The footage she gets is so little, that in a single song, their entire love story is covered – from flirting to getting engaged!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B109CvGAenA/

If you sit at the editing desk and slice all the redundant scenes out, all you’ll be left with is the trailer. It felt so stretched, I actually planned to take the exit just before the climax but decided to suffer till the end (I am an annoyingly hopeful person). The climax, was poorly handled and suddenly the moral of the story became how lonely people are. Karamveer gets senti saying if people are seeking shady “friendship calls”, they must be hella lonely. Aww, you’re really that pure? Sure, their tharak levels have nothing to do with paying for dirty talk. Poof…the movie fades out into a post-climax number…and with that are gone your two and a half hours.

ALSO READ: Ayushmann Khurrana Wants The Best Actress Award For Dream Girl. We Think He Deserves It!

While Ayushmann has given us a lot of ticklers in the past, this one missed the mark. However, he has performed well, and I don’t blame him for taking this up, I would be signing the dotted line when the premise gave me so much scope to show off my acting chops. I still believe in him and will watch his next, hoping it won’t disappoint. Told you I was a hopeful person.

Akanksha Narang

Read More From Akanksha
Seen it all?

We’ve got more!