SAB KUSHAL MANGAL | 3 January, 2020

One Up Entertainment’s Sab Kushal Mangal (UA) is a love triangle.

Pappu Mishra (Priyaank Sharma) is a television host in Delhi. His parents (Satish Kaushik and Supriya Pathak) live in Bihar. Mandira (Riva Kishan) lives in the same town in Bihar with her parents (Rakesh Bedi and Jaya Ojha), brother, Vishnu (Mrunal Jain), sister-in-law, Urmila (Swati Semwal), and grandmother (Sunita Shirole). In the same town lives politician Baba Bhandari (Akshaye Khanna) who is crooked and manipulative. Baba Bhandari gets eligible bachelors married per force, as is the custom in Bihar.

Worried that Mandira is still not married, her father approaches Baba Bhandari who soon kidnaps Pappu Mishra when he comes visiting his parents. Baba Bhandari plans to get Pappu married to Mandira but the plan goes phut when Pappu escapes.

Soon, Pappu Mishra realises that he had been kidnapped by Baba Bhandari to be married off to Mandira. Since he finds Mandira very beautiful, he goes to Baba Bhandari once again but it is too late because Baba Bhandari has fallen head over heels in love with Mandira. Instead of getting Pappu married to Mandira, he confesses his love for Mandira to Pappu and appoints him (Pappu) to transform him into a cool dude so that he would become desirable in Mandira’s eyes.

Even as Mandira revolts against her impending marriage to Baba Bhandari, her family is excited about the same. What happens thereafter? Who wins Mandira’s hand in marriage?

Karan Vishwanath Kashyap has penned a story which had the germs of an entertainer. But the story loses steam midway. The screenplay, written jointly by Brijendra Kala and Karan Vishwanath Kashyap, is entertaining and engaging in the first half but becomes boring after interval. The audience fails to understand why Pappu Mishra agrees to transform Baba Bhandari even though he (Pappu) knows that he (Baba) wants to transform himself to win Mandira’s heart. No logic is offered for Pappu’s action — and this question keeps troubling the viewers. Mandira’s revolt against her scheduled marriage with Baba is so tame that one wonders whether she is even serious that the marriage should be called off. The climax looks hurried and unconvincing. Brijendra Kala’s dialogues are witty and engaging. But the Bihari dialect will restrict the appeal of the dialogues.

Akshaye Khanna is excellent as Baba Bhandari. Even his transformation process is quite funny. In short, Akshaye does full justice to his role. Priyaank Sharma makes a decent debut as Pappu Mishra. Average in looks, he acts with confidence. Riva Kishan makes a fairly confident debut in the role of Mandira. She has ordinary looks but is easy in front of the camera. Satish Kaushik is extraordinary as Pappu’s father. Supriya Pathak makes a fine mark as Pappu’s mother. Rakesh Bedi is okay as Mandira’s father. Mrunal Jain has his moments as Mandira’s brother, Vishnu. Swati Semwal is extremely natural as Vishnu’s wife, Urmila. Jaya Ojha and Sunita Shirole lend fair support as Mandira’s mother and grandmother respectively. Ananya Bellos makes her presence felt as Buaji. Yuvika Chaudhary impresses as Baba Bhandari’s mistress, Neelu. Ishtiyak Khan is effective as Baba’s sidekick, Sonu. Abbas Khan is good as Baba’s sidekick, Ranjeet. Sahil Pushkarna (as Ranjan), Apurva Nemlekar (as Shyama), Nalneesh Neel (as Haricharan), Mukesh Bhatt (as the police inspector), Sashidhar Gupta (as the rickshaw driver), Nikita Chopra (as Pappu’s colleague, Anisha), and the others provide good support.

Karan Vishwanath Kashyap’s direction is quite good. He seems to be in command before interval but seems to have lost grip in the second half. Harshit Saxena’s music and Sameer Anjaan’s lyrics are so-so. Shabina Khan’s choreography is functional. Raju Singh’s background music is ordinary. Sachin K. Krishn’s camerawork is quite alright. Bhikoo Verma’s action and stunt scenes are okay. Tariq Umar Khan’s production designing is commonplace. Prashant Singh Rathore’s editing is quite sharp.

On the whole, Sab Kushal Mangal is ruined by a dull post-interval portion and will, therefore, go largely unnoticed. Flop.

Released on 3-1-’20 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Panorama Studios International. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.