Bholenath Movies and Cinekorn Entertainment’s Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi (UA) is the comic story of a Gujarati family and a Punjabi family and what happens between them when the Gujarati girl and the Punjabi boy fall in love with one another.
Hasmukh Patel (Paresh Shah) is a shopkeeper who dreams of opening a supermarket. He is a widower who lives with his mother (Bharti Achrekar), elder daughter, Nimisha (Jinal Belani), and younger daughter, Pooja (Payal Ghosh). He is very orthodox in his thinking, is a teetotaller and does not approve of people eating non-vegetarian food or watching bold stuff on international television channels. He lives in an all-Gujarati housing society and runs his provision store in the same society.
A loud Punjabi family comprising Guggi Tandon (Rishi Kapoor), wife (Divya Seth Shah), son Monty (Vir Das) and father Prem (Prem Chopra) comes to live in the same society, having purchased the flat sold by a desperate Gujarati. Guggi’s family eats non-vegetarian food and consumes alcohol, leading to constant bickering between Hasmukh Patel and Guggi Tandon. While Guggi runs a motor garage in the same premises and also deals in second-hand cars, Hasmukh Patel is led into believing that the car business is just a front to cover up his connections with an underworld don in Dubai. Hasmukh begins to fear Guggi. By the by, Hasmukh’s fear of Guggi turns into friendship. Meanwhile, Monty falls in love with Pooja, and she also reciprocates his love in spite of the fact that her dad hates Punjabis with a vengeance because of an incident in the past.
Hasmukh Patel’s elder daughter, Nimisha, is due to get married to the son of a rich and conservative Gujarati (Tiku Talsania). On the day of the engagement ceremony hosted by Hasmukh Patel, Guggi arranges and pays for a dance troupe to generally add colour to the party. But the ultra-conservative father of the to-be groom is so disgusted with the dance that he calls off the marriage, holding Hasmukh Patel responsible for the ‘indecent’ song and dance.
Hasmukh Patel holds Guggi responsible for the break-up of his daughter’s impending marriage and swears revenge. But Guggi tells the prospective groom’s father that Patel is innocent, and thereby saves the marriage. This eases the tension between Patel and Guggi to an extent.
However, all hell breaks loose when Monty asks Hasmukh Patel for Pooja’s hand in marriage. Hasmukh reveals why he can’t stand Punjabis and, therefore, would not agree to the liaison.
What happens thereafter? Does Monty marry Pooja? Do Patel and Guggi make up? Does Nimisha marry the same boy, after the break-up on the engagement day?
Sanjay Chhel has written a comedy story which seems like that of a television serial rather than a film. There is not even a hint of novelty in the story in which the caste differences are very pronounced. His screenplay is one of complete convenience and also gives the feeling of a TV serial. The only intention of the writer seems to be to make the audience laugh, and for that, he often sacrifices logic. Patel begins to fear Guggi because he believes that he has connections with an underworld don, but that fear soon goes out of the window without any justification. Again, Patel agrees to Guggi’s suggestion of an item song-dance at his daughter’s engagement ceremony without so much as thinking of the repercussions. Moving further, Patel is livid with Guggi for the break-up of Nimisha’s engagement but he melts soon thereafter when Guggi apologises and the prospective groom’s father agrees to reconsider the marriage proposal. Of course, several comedy scenes evoke laughter but the childishness of the drama comes in the way of the engagement of the audience. That is to say, the audience laughs at places but yet, doesn’t enjoy the proceedings because of complete lack of conviction. Chhel has tried to make a comedy out of contrived situations with a thread of continuity running through them but the forced scenes and the very convenient drama make the film appear like a television serial.
The climax is hurried and hardly impresses the viewers.
Sanjay Chhel’s dialogues, and Sunil Munshi’s additional dialogues are entertaining.
Rishi Kapoor does a very fine job as Guggi Tandon. He is both, endearing and convincing. Paresh Rawal is good as Hasmukh Patel and has his moments. Vir Das is natural as Monty. Payal Ghosh looks ordinary, and her debut performance (as Pooja) is so-so. Divya Seth Shah lends excellent support. Bharti Achrekar is very impressive. Prem Chopra makes his presence felt. Tiku Talsania is entertaining. Jinal Belani lends ordinary support. Sameer Khakhar is quite good. Darshan Jariwala leaves a mark in a special appearance. Rajeev Mehta makes his mark in a special appearance. Karanvir Bohra and Teejay Sidhu add value in brief special appearances.
Sanjay Chhel’s direction is routine. Music (by Lalit Pandit and Uttank Vora) is so-so. Sanjay Chhel’s lyrics are fair. Song picturisations (by Ganesh Acharya, Sameer Tanna, Longines Fernandes and Dev) are just about functional. Uttank Vora’s background music is routine. Neelabh Kaul-Venu’s cinematography is fair. Mahendra Verma’s action and stunts are ordinary. Production designing (by Nitin Wable, Ashish Maitry and Shyam Dey) is okay, giving the film a feel of a TV serial. Sanjay Sankla’s editing is reasonably crisp.
On the whole, Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi is funny in parts only. At the box-office, it will face an uphill task as it doesn’t have the merits to entertain the audience enough. Flop.