Happy Bhag Jayegi Review: Too few laughs, too much mess
There's a lot of love for the whimsical girl in our movies.
People outside the movie are fans of her offbeat rebellion.
But, bank blindly on her myth without a lively subtext for her actions and the template is as exciting as flat soda.
In director Mudassar Aziz's Happy Bhag Jayegi, the titular Happy (Diana Penty) appears to be a hodgepodge of Kareena Kapoor's boisterous Punjabi girl in Jab We Met, Kangana Ranaut's audacious rebel in Tanu Weds Manu, Parineeti Chopra's runaway specialist in Shuddh Desi Romance and Sonam Kapoor's sneakers-preferring bride in Dolly Ki Doli.
As fun as these inspirations are, the end result is a sloppy protagonist who's neither convincing in her mischief nor original in her exploits.
Penty, best remembered for her dazzling subtlety in Homi Adajania's Cocktail, returns to screen after a considerable gap to play a complete contrast. As breathtaking she is, her performance lacks the necessary humour and sass to salvage a lazily written sketch. All her relentless screeching and tantrums prove grating around a script that sees odd virtue in her cantankerous ways.
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