Tips Films’ Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai (UA) is the story of a young man sandwiched between two women — a wife and a girlfriend.
Jass (Varun Dhawan) is on the verge of a divorce from his wife, Bani (Mrunal Thakur). The reason for divorce is that he wants a child while she is not in a hurry to have a child. Bani asks Jass to move on in life as the divorce will be granted by the court after the mandatory six-month cooling period. Jass actually moves on and falls in love with Preet (Pooja Hegde). The problem arises when Bani announces that she is pregnant with Jass’ child and, therefore, does not want a divorce. There’s double trouble for Jass because Preet also announces that she’s pregnant with his child although they aren’t yet married. Each of the two ladies is unaware of the other lady’s presence in Jass’ life. What happens thereafter?
Yunus Sajawal’s story reminds of Saajan Chale Sasural except that in that film, the hero is torn between two wives but in this one, he is torn between a pregnant wife and a pregnant girlfriend. Yunus Sajawal’s screenplay, with additional screenplay by Sachin Kumar Singh, comprises scenes and sequences which are funny and not-so-funny. The first half has only a few scenes which are hilarious as the drama moves on a predictable path. The real fun starts once both the ladies are in the same city and in similar situations (both are pregnant), and Jass has to not let each one know about the other’s presence in his life. The confusion is compounded as both the women have the same gynaecologist, Dr. Gulati (Chunkey Panday). Hence the drama post-interval is at least entertaining and enjoyable. In particular, the sequences of Jass’ ‘mother’ (Mouni Roy) are hilarious, and so are the scenes involving Jass, Dr. Gulati and his compounder (Rakesh Bedi) because Jass tries hard to not let the doctor and the compounder know that he is the common father of both the to-be-born children.
Farhad Samji’s dialogues are quite funny.
Varun Dhawan plays Jass well and impresses with his free acting. Mrunal Thakur is good in the role of Bani, but her costumes sometimes don’t do justice to her figure. Pooja Hegde is quite nice as Preet. Jimmy Shergill acts with effortless ease as Preet’s brother, Randhawa. He is very good. Chunkey Panday is lovely as Dr. Gulati. Rakesh Bedi lends wonderful support as the compounder. Manish Paul has his moments as Jass’ friend, Kunnu. Mouni Roy makes a fantastic mark as Jass’ ‘mother’. Rajesh Kumar is reasonably good as Randhawa’s PA. In special appearances, Johny Lever, Rajpal Yadav, Ali Asgar, Manoj Pahwa, Ayesha Raza Mishra, Kubra Sait and Rajat Rawail add value. Kriti Sanon makes a striking guest appearance and provides star value. Others do as desired.
David Dhawan’s direction is fairly nice. He seems to be in form after interval. Music (Akshay & I.P., White Noise Collective, Javed-Mohsin, Tanishk Bagchi, Rony Anjali and Gill Machhrai; original music (of remixed/recreated songs) by Anu Malik)) is appealing. The recreated Chunari chunari song (from Biwi No. 1) is the best number. The ‘Wow’, Vyah karwa do ji and Tera ho jaaun songs are also very tuneful. Lyrics (I.P. Singh, Jairaj, Vayu, Mohsin Shaikh, Rony Anjali, Gill Machhrai and Farhad Samji; original lyrics (of remixed/recreated songs) by Sameer)) go well with the film’s mood. Song piturisations (Vijay A. Ganguly; Remo D’Souza for Chunari chunari; Bosco Leslie Martis for ‘Wow’) are eye-filling. Raju Singh’s background music is quite nice. Ayananka Bose’s cinematography is wonderful. Sunil Rodrigues’ action and stunt scenes are alright. Rajat Poddar and Parijat Poddar’s production designing, and Ashutosh Patnaik’s art direction are appropriate. Ritesh Soni does a good job of the editing.
On the whole, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai is an average entertainer for the youth.
Released on 5-6-’26 at Inox (daily 9 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Inox Pictures. Publicity: very good. Opening: good. …….Also released all over. Opening was quite good at many places. Actually, the first couple of shows recorded dull collections at many places but footfalls increased as the day progressed. Opening in East Punjab was below the mark.