Happy Bhag Jayegi

Happy Bhag Jayegi (3/5) - "The film runs on Actor-Factor"
Running Time - 126 min
Happy Bhag Jayegi falls under the most popular and the most populated category of Hindi cinema - Rom-Com which is helmed by a director whose name has been attached with disasters like Dulha Mil Gaya, Showbiz & Zindaggi Rocks - Mudassar Aziz. Going by this, one would shy away from spending money on such a film until it boasts about its lead actors being Jimmy Shergill, Abhay Deol, Ali Fazal and Diana Penty (doubtful) and a theme which looks not fresh but interesting.
Happy (Penty) is as the name suggests a Happy-GO-UNlucky girl who messes up everything when trying to elope with her boyfriend from her own wedding in Amritsar but lands up in Lahore affecting the lives of a bunch of people somehow connected to her. The mere premise of this Indo-Pak Anand Rai-meets-Priyadarshan comic chronicle is interesting which draws you to the theatre. And did you get what you asked for?
HBJ is a decent attempt on how a Rom-Com should look like and promises to deliver to some extent what you desired but it falls flat on the writing part. The screenplay is not at all boring (for other reasons) but there are some points in the film where you feel there is a hodgepodge of emotions just to balance the original theme and there is nothing fresh to offer. The reason why this film still works is the "actor-factor". To start with, it feels like the casting of this film was not done based on the actors' ability but just on the basis of the similar looking characters they have played in the past. Jimmy Shergill (from Tanu Weds Manu), Abhay Deol (from ZNMD) and Ali Fazal (from every other film - the Musician guy) play same old characters but again, they did not take you for granted. Diana Penty is in one way superbly confident after what we saw in Cocktail but in the other way she overdo the character which is a mixture of Rani-Tanu-Geet (you know them, right?) at many points in the film. Pakistani actors Momal Sheikh and Javed Sheikh are natural as always. But, above all, there is a character of ASP Usman Afridi played by none other than the immensely talented Piyush Mishra who is undoubtedly the surprise package of the film. What Deepak Dobriyal was for Tanu Weds Manu Returns is Piyush Mishra for this film, enough said. Mishra, with his impeccable comic timing and inimitable dialogue delivery is the only factor you'd want to watch the film forward for.
The film is produced by Anand L Rai and there is a lot of him which can be felt while watching the film but this time Mudassar Aziz has succeeded in doing what he is expected of. Happy Bhag Jayegi is not a film which you'll remember for years but it surely is a paisa-vasool entertainer where you go, grab a seat and enjoy, that too without leaving your brains at home (unlike many)!
WATCHABLE!