How will you feel if, in 2024, you are served brainless content in the name of humour and reliability? That’s exactly what I felt while watching Simarpreet Singh’s directorial Wild Wild Punjab starring Manjot Singh, Varun Sharma, Sunny Singh and Jassie Gill. The leading ladies in the film are Patralekhaa and Ishita Raj. Luv Ranjan and Varun Garg have produced the film. In short, Wild Wild Punjab revolves around four friends who set out on a road trip to Punjab’s Pathankot to gate crash the wedding of Mr Rajesh Khanna’s (Varun Sharma) ex-girlfriend only so he could tell her “I am over you”, but on their way, they are met with many unknown obstacles which are supposed to add the fun and comedy in this film. Wild Wild Punjab’s running time is 1 hour 50 minutes and here’s how it made feel. Bored! Let’s get into the review, read on!
Plot
Let me elaborate a little on the plot of Wild Wild Punjab, a story written by Sandeep Jain, Luv Ranjan and Harman Wadala. The movie introduces us to each character, one by one within 10 minutes. The first is Maan Arora (Sunny Singh). He is a playboy who makes out with various girls in a car owned by Gaurav Jain (Jassie Gill), and BTW, he also guards the car while Maan is busy making fake promises to different girls. As the film progresses, their third companion is introduced, and he is Rajesh Khanna AKA Khanne (Varun Sharma). Khanne’s introduction happens through a scene where he has cried his heart out and is on the verge of committing suicide, but knife use karein ya blade, he can’t decide. Maan and Gaurav save him from taking this drastic step (he wasn’t going to anyway), and then comes Mr Honey Singh (Manjot Singh). Honey has two weaknesses, one is his father and the other is Paro (his car). Mr Honey Singh suggests that Khanne should show some courage and tell his ex-girlfriend that he is over her but, not over call, rather in person and that too by crashing her wedding. (Toxic enough?). Oh, how she cheated on him is something for which you should watch this film! However, as they start this road trip, many wild adventures (I would call it senseless but okay) happen on their way, and while doing this, they also cover most parts of Punjab. During this journey, they also meet Radha (Patralekhaa) and Meera (Ishita Raj), who somehow become a part of their journey. Details of this frivolous plot shall be discussed later!
What Doesn’t Work?
I would want to say, the entire film but let’s be reasonable, the actors were good and they tried hard to compensate for the lazy writing and lame comedy, but the efforts were all in vain.
The Story
Fine, sometimes you can watch films without using your brain but then there’s a limit to that, right? I wouldn’t spoil the fun and spill the bizarre scenes but here’s one that I would want to. How can you justify a character, in the middle of a fighting scene, piss and burn down a toll booth? Well, as painful as it sounds, it was even harder to watch. But the interesting thing is, it gets wilder. I mean, itna bhi title ko justify nahi karna tha that the plot altogether stops making sense and anything starts happening just to make it all look like chaos. Okay, without revealing much here, I have one question, can you ever be so drunk that you break someone else marriage and marry the bride? If they took the Ross and Rachel inspiration, I am sorry the cultures are very different to even make it look believable! And how can a movie based in Punjab not have a subplot about the drug lords? Yes, somehow that’s added too, and the plot starts to become even more unbearable. And where is the comedy? I mean, laughing at the foolish plot doesn’t qualify for comedy, right? Those 1 hour 50 minutes running time had only one scene that I found a little funny because that satisfied my craving for smart writing.
Characters: No Innovation, Nothing New
In terms of characters, Wild Wild Punjab has nothing new to offer. It’s plain and simple, basically boring. In the name of the character arc, only Jassie Gill’s Gaurav turns from a naive, cowardly boy to a badass, which BTW is quite predictable. Other male and female leads in the film have been assigned their weaknesses and motives, and they are just walking on it in a linear format. Basically, the film is not very character-driven. For example, in films like Fukrey, there were characters like Choocha or Bholi Punjaban who were written so well that as an audience, we enjoyed watching them. This film has no such characters!
Boring, Unfunny Dialogues
Accha chalo, the story was boring but at least some work should have been done on the punchlines. But Wild Wild Punjab disappointed me in this category as well. It does not check the box for being a good comedy film too, even after it had actors who have earned their place in this genre. Not once, did I even laugh at a character’s joke or dialogue, and it was also because the scenes were written in such an odd manner.
Also Read: Wild Wild Punjab Song Meri Baggi Mera Ghoda Ft Manjot Singh, Varun Sharma Is A Nice Party Banger!
Music Was Not Impactful
There’s not much to talk about the film’s background score because it wasn’t memorable. There’s a track in the middle of the movie as well, but it comes and goes, and I was over it real quick.
I would like to dedicate another paragraph to complete my rant about the film. Since it’s a film produced by Luv Ranjan, of course, the core storyline will be about a girl doing wrong to a guy, however, this time, very little to no effort has been put into showing the whole toxic masculinity narrative but at the same, the attempt to add adventure also fails. In the end, there’s another twist (predictable again) but this one’s only to show how selfish and self-centred Khanne’s girlfriend was. And by the end of the movie, I was almost like please either say “I am over you” or I will fast forward the film till the end credits.
Anything Good?
Only the attempt by the stars to keep the film engaging enough for me so I don’t stop watching it. Manjot Singh, Varun Sharma, Jassie Gill and Sunny Singh have played their parts very effectively and organically. They did their best to justify their characters but unfortunately had a very limited scope of making it look interesting in the bigger picture. Patrelekhaa and Ishita Raj are also fun to watch as Radha and Meera respectively.
Verdict
Simarpreet Singh’s Wild Wild Punjab offers nothing in terms of story, comedy or characters. The 1 hour 50-minute film only left me frustrated and irritated with its storytelling and comic timings. The whole plot of Khanne going and telling “I am over you” to his ex-girlfriend will make you want to get over this film as quickly as possible, because, in 2024, this humour is not quite appreciated, you see. There needs to be strong elements in a film to make it interesting enough even if it’s just about confronting an ex at her wedding (well, let’s just not get into the conversation of how problematic this idea is because it’s a Luv Ranjan film). Wild Wild Punjab will stream on Netflix from July 10, and there are 10 other things you can watch instead of this!