'Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai': The laughs the film elicits are as weak as its script

‘Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai’ is a line in a song from Biwi No. 1, David Dhawan’s 1999 movie where Salman Khan gets to play house with two beautiful women, Karisma Kapoor and Sushmita Sen. It is also the title of a new movie, supposedly Dhawan’s last directorial, starring his son, Varun. It is also about one man playing husband to two beautiful women, Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde.

No offence to anyone but it is a downgrade in every way. The women (spoiler alert) get to choose themselves over their man at the end of the film, but it takes too long, with too many lame jokes and remixed songs, to get there. There is another track involving Jimmy Shergill and Mouni Roy, as a “gold digger with a figure”, while Varun moves from woman to woman, justifying adultery, as a host of comedians turn out to help him. There’s Manoj Pahwa, Rajpal Yadav, Johny Lever, Chunky Panday and a newly resurgent Rakesh Bedi, all trying their best to lift everyone’s spirit. But the plot, the story, even the extra loud acting is dated. The laughs that the film elicits are as weak as its script.