Jio Studios and Devgn Films’ Son Of Sardaar 2 (UA) is the second in the Son Of Sardaar franchise. A man fails to save his own marriage, but he succeeds in getting a girl married to the boy she is mad about.
Jassi (Ajay Devgan) is a Sikh who lives in India with his mother (Dolly Ahluwalia). His wife, Dimple (Neeru Bajwa in a special appearance), works in Scotland. Jassi is shocked to learn that Dimple wants to divorce him. Clearly, their long-distance marriage hasn’t worked. Since Dimple breaks the news of the divorce to him when he comes to Scotland to meet her, he is even more devastated. Rather than return to India, where he wouldn’t be able to hide the bad news from his mother, he rents a house in Scotland itself. The house belongs to Rabia (Mrunal Thakur), Gul (Deepak Dobriyal; who has undergone sex change surgery to become a girl), Mehwish (Kubra Sait), and Rabia’s daughter, Saba (Roshni Walia). Rabia’s husband, Danish (Chunkey Panday), has abandoned her and lives elsewhere in Scotland. Saba loves Goggi (Sahil Mehta). Since Goggi hails from a traditional family in Scotland, his father, Raja Sandhu (Ravi Kishan), will not allow him to marry Saba if he gets to know that she and her mother are dancers who perform at weddings and, worse still, they are Pakistanis. For the sake of her daughter and to give Raja Sandhu the impression that they are Sikhs, just like the Sandhus are, Rabia takes the help of Jassi who holds himself out to be Saba’s Colonel father. The ever-suspecting half-brothers of Raja — Titu (Vindoo Dara Singh) and Tony (Mukul Dev) — don’t make life easy for Jassi, but his Sardar blood doesn’t allow him to leave Saba in the lurch. The misunderstandings that follow and the skeletons that come tumbling out of the cupboards of several characters make for a drama which nobody had bargained for.
The film is based on Turkish film Aile Arasinda, written by Gülse Birsel. Jagdeep Singh Sidhu and Mohit Jain have adapted the story which cares little for logic and rather relies heavily on comedy. No harm in that except that the sacrifice of logic is so pronounced at places that it irritates the audience. As if that weren’t bad enough, the comedy often falls flat on its face, especially in the first half. The latter part of the post-interval portion is quite funny and sometimes even becomes hilarious as one skeleton after the other comes tumbling out of the cupboard. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the last half an hour of the drama is the film’s mainstay. But it must be added here that the promiscuity angle may not go down too well with the ladies and family audience even though it is written in a comic style. Jagdeep Singh Sidhu’s dialogues are witty.
Ajay Devgan does well as Jassi and makes his character believable in spite of its implausibility. Mrunal Thakur does a fair job as Rabia. Her dances are graceful. Ravi Kishan is lovely in the role of Raja Sandhu, immersing himself completely into the character. Sharat Saxena is excellent in a brief role as Raja’s father, Ranjit Singh Sandhu. Sanjay Mishra makes a fine mark with his natural acting as Bantu. Ashwini Kalsekar gets very limited scope as Raja Sandhu’s wife, Premlata; she is quite good. Chunkey Panday, in the role of Danish, impresses in the last part, which is when he gets scope to act. Deepak Dobriyal is earnest as Gul and evokes laughter at several places. Mukul Dev (as Tony) and Vindoo Dara Singh (as Titu) act with conviction and make several scenes entertaining. Kubra Sait is so-so as Mehwish. Roshni Walia lends average support as Saba. Sahil Mehta is endearing as Goggi. Neeru Bajwa stands her own in a special appearance as Dimple. Dolly Ahluwalia leaves a fine mark in the role of Jassi’s mother, Bebe. Nalneesh Neel (as Bantu’s sidekick, Keshav) and Shrikant Verma (as Bantu’s sidekick, Tyagi) lend able support. Rupinder Rupi and Gurpreet Bhangu (as the grieving women) make their marks in the single scene in which they appear. Amrit Amby (as Kaaku), Sanpreet Kaur (as Disha), Mandi Sidhu (as Babbu’s wife), Ankur Verma (as Roobin), Emma Kate Vansittart (as Kim), Mia Lacey Redmond (as the young Kim), Nasa Ohalete (as Janet), and Mohan Singh Randhawa (as Robin) have their moments. Guru Randhawa makes his charming presence felt in the Poo Poo song.
Vijay Kumar Arora’s direction is ordinary but it must be mentioned that he has been able to create hilarious comedy in the last half an hour of the film. Music (Harsh Upadhyay for the title song and Nazarbattu; Jaani for Pehla tu dooja tu and Apne viya de; Jay K. for Kaali ainak; Sunny Vik for Rabba sanu; and Tanishk Bagchi for Poo Poo) is fair. The title song, Kaali ainak and Pehla tu dooja tu songs are the better numbers. Lyrics (Shabbir Ahmed, Khara and Sukriti Bhardwaj for the title song; Jaani for Pehla tu dooja tu and Apne viya de; Pranav Vatsa for Nazarbattu; Malkit Singh (Golden Star) for Kaali ainak; Khara for Rabba sanu; Armaan Sharma for Poo Poo) are so-so. Song picturisations (Ganesh Acharya for the title track, Pehla tu dooja tu, Nazarbattu and Po Po songs; Kruti Mahesh for the Kaali ainak number) are quite eye-filling. Amar Mohile and Salil Amrute’s background music is alright. Aseem Bajaj has done a wonderful job of the cinematography. R.P. Yadav’s action and stunts are in synch with the mood of the film. Garima Mathur’s production designing, and Gurmel Singh’s art direction are of good standard. Ninad Khanolkar’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Son Of Sardaar 2 is an ordinary fare which can hope to score during a couple of weekends mainly, more in single-screen cinemas. Lack of excitement around the film will restrict its box-office takings.
Released on 1-8-’25 at Inox (daily 6 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru PVR Inox Pictures. Publicity: good. Opening: below the mark. …….Also released all over. Opening was not up to the mark at most of the places.