‘Happy Bhag Jayegi’ is a rom-com starring Diana Penty, Abhay Deol, Jimmy Shergill and Ali Fazal in lead roles. It is the story of a runaway bride from Amritsar who lands in Pakistan. The film has been acted well and the direction is good. Though it loses plot somewhere after the first half, the film finally picks up its tempo in the climax. If you are in mood of some light comedy, then ‘Happy Bhag Jayegi’ might just be the film for you. The plot of the film is predictable and over all, the film doesn’t offer anything new but great performances by the actors and some good comedy (esp. in first half) make it worth watching. The director, Mudassar Aziz, has given the film a fresh treated. Overall, the film is a decent watch.

Happy Bhag Jayegi works totally because of its actors. The film is one comic set-up after another with an overused plot-line that really doesn't offer any possibilities of surprise. As such, the ensemble cast comes to the rescue. Finally, Diana Penty. She's inexperienced but talented. In this film, she is adequate in this manic-pixie-dream-kudi role. There is a constant effort on the side of the film's makers to push the idea that Happy is a really unique character. Piyush Mishra is excellent, perhaps the best thing, in the film. He takes the role of a bumbling Pakistani cop with a penchant for chaste Urdu and knocks it out of the park. Jimmy Sheirgill is a well-oiled machine as the slightly comical, slightly sinister goon-cum-politician. He is an underused actor, with most of his performances going unnoticed (like his recent turn as the villain in Shorgul). Ali Fazal is adequate. Happy Bhag Jayegi is an inoffensive family entertainer. If you don't like your history with flying crocodiles or with patriotism forced down the throat, this inconspicuous film might appeal to you.

A wedding scuttled, a suitor snubbed and a bride on the run are time-tested ingredients of a comic romp. Happy Bhag Jayegi has all this and more and yet is only mildly diverting when it isn't overly desultory. The film falls short of being a side-splitting laugh riot because writer-director Mudassar Aziz does not make happy use of the narrative pieces available to him consistently enough to be able to deliver an outright winner. But Happy Bhag Jayegi, which delivers harmless fun for the most part in spite of the patchy screenplay, is marked by elements that set it apart from run-of-the-mill Bollywood rom-coms. All through film, the dialogue writer unsurprisingly pokes fun at Pakistan but the jibes are never overtly spiteful. There isn't much in Happy Bhag Jayegi by way of Pak-bashing that could unduly vex filmgoers across the border. The film whips up a steady rhythm in the first half only to lose its way a bit in the second. The film goes all over the place once Bagga decides to follow Happy to Lahore and enlists the support of a local gang of criminals. If Happy Bhag Jayegi does not get on one's nerves like such half-baked attempts at hilarity tend to do, it is because it remains completely inoffensive. Happy Bhag Jayegi isn't the kind of film that will have audiences rolling in the aisles. But it might occasionally induce faint smiles on some faces.

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. Such a pity, especially when the actors flanking Happy are so talented and endearing to watch. If Happy Bhag Jayegi succeeds in delivering a few laughs, it's entirely to their credit. Jimmy Shergill gamely lampoons his bride-bereft boastful groom from Tanu Weds Manu and looks visibly chuffed dancing to Sunny Deol's Yaara O Yaara from Jeet. Ali Fazal does well as the sweet-natured dolt. Abhay Deol is saddled by half-hearted writing, where it's never too clear if his repressed desires and expressed views are of any consequence to the plot. Still, his easy-going charisma pitted against Penty's raucous outbursts is quite a relief. There's also Pakistani actress Momal Sheikh, quite the radiant presence and a source of needless romantic complication. Piyush Mishra's distinct dialogue delivery, this time in chaste Urdu, provides some comic wordplay wherein mousiqui becomes mausi-ki. It's silly but this is the most humour you can expect.

This Diana Penty, Abhay Deol film is good for a few laughs but then falls victim to weak writing and never realises its full potential. The premise of Happy Bhag Jayegi, promises you some good chuckles because, well, who doesn’t like the idea of a pretty girl on the run in search of her Prince Charming? And the Pakistani locations—the scenic spots around Lahore– should inject some freshness, right? But all too soon, the pleasures of the film dwindle, and we are left to fend for ourselves, looking for something that will make us laugh, even if it is weak laughter. There is some of it, but it is far too intermittent. Done well, Happy Bhag Jayegi could have been a rollicking comedy. But despite its occasional throwaway lines, and nice touches, it never comes together. If you want me to suspend disbelief and buy into your wholly contrived plot, you have to be able to write your way past the contrivances. This doesn’t happen. This ‘Happy’ should have left me much happier. Some of the gentle Indo-Pak banter is funny but it becomes too stretched. And what was the need of the risible : ‘Kaisa desh hai, bandook na dikhao toh koi sunta hi nahin hai’?