T-Series and Luv Films’ Wild Wild Punjab (for 16+ audience) is the story of four friends. Rajesh Khanna’s (Varun Sharma) girlfriend, Vaishali (Aasheema Vardaan), ditches him and is due to marry another man because of which he is crestfallen. His three friends — Mayank Arora (Sunny Singh), Gaurav Jain (Jassie Gill) and Honey Singh (Manjot Singh) — advise him to stop brooding and instead seek revenge by telling her that he’s over her as, according to them, no girl would be able to bear rejection from a guy. Towards this end, the four friends make a road trip from Patiala to Pathankot where his ex-girlfriend is due to get married. On the way, they have more than their share of problems, getting involved in one sticky situation after another. For instance, Gaurav, whose marriage to Tara (Subha Rajput) is due in just a couple of days, ends up marrying Radha (Patralekha) when, in a drunken state, he sees her to-be groom’s parents making unreasonable demands for dowry at the marriage ceremony.
Luv Ranjan has written a story which appears too stretched after a point. As it is, the story line is thin and to add to that, it goes on and on, making it appear as if every problem under the sun has to come in the share of the four friends. Harman Wadala and Sandeep Jain’s screenplay gives the viewers so much time to think that the drama loses its impact to an extent. The same drama would’ve had far more impact had its pace been much faster. It is because of the easy pace that the audience tends to get bored in spite of the thread of comedy running through the drama. Also, at the end of the day, the viewers realise that the entire script has been a case of much ado about almost nothing. Harman Wadala and Sandeep Jain’s dialogues are quite witty and entertaining.
Varun Sharma does a fairly nice job as Rajesh Khanna, but he must be careful now as he is getting too repetitive. He needs to add more variety in his performances if he is to have a long innings. Sunny Singh impresses in the role of Mayank Arora. Jassie Gill leaves a very fine mark as Gaurav Jain. Manjot Singh delivers an energetic and engaging performance in the role of Honey Singh. Patralekha is good as Radha. Ishita Raj is fair as Meera. Rajesh Sharma has his moments as police inspector Avtar Singh. Gopal Datt shines as Gaurav Jain’s father who constantly ridicules him. Aasheema Vardaan is good as Vaishali. Subha Rajput makes her presence felt in the role of Tara. Manish Tyagi is okay as Radha’s father. Dr. Ravi Bhushan (as Tara’s father), Samuel John (as Daljeet), Anjum Batra (as Dalbir), Sukhbeer Pal Kaur (as Gaurav’s mother), Rekha (as Tara’s mother), Poonam Jangra (as Radha’s mother), Shajia Shaikh (as Vaishali’s mother), Arun Malik (as Radha’s father-in-law), Priyanka Bedi (as Radha’s mother-in-law), Mohit Gupta (as Radha’s groom) and the rest lend fair support.
Simarpreet Singh’s direction is alright but he is burdened with a script that doesn’t have much to offer. Music (Guru Randhawa, Bali and Saurabh-Vaibhav) is okay but the absence of hit songs is felt. Lyrics (Guru Randhawa, Happy Bains, Bali, Saurabh-Vaibhav and Harsh Tyagi) are of standard. Piyush-Shazia’s choreography is ordinary. Hitesh Sonik’s background music is reasonably nice. Nigam Bomzan’s cinematography is good. Aejaz-Gulab’s action and stunts are functional. Sidhant Malhotra’s production designing is fair. Chetan M. Solanki’s editing could’ve been sharper.
On the whole, Wild Wild Punjab is an ordinary fare.
Released on 10-7-’24 on Netflix.