Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos Movie Review by Sucharita Tyagi - Co-directed by long-time collaborator Kavi Shastri, some moments in this film genuinely work. Mithila Palkar plays Rupa as a dancer who cannot dance. Albeit tragically, like the many Bollywood films Happy is inspired by, Rupa has little to do, the film failing to hear its own commentary. In a sequence where Happy enters Mama’s café for the first time, the frame rate slows down and you hear “cous cous falaafel”, a parody of the viral Fa9la song featured in Dhurandhar, scoring Akshya Khanna’s now legendary entry moment. One has to appreciate the topicality and speed on display here. Another great scene is an entirely unsure Happy trying and failing to give a speech to a local crowd. Instead of a messiah figure, the crowd sees him like a stand-up comic and heckles. Humour however, throughout this film, is inconsistent. If there was a joke behind creating a Sikh restaurant owner/spy co-ordinator named Geet played by Sharib Hashmi, we never hear it. You get low-hanging penis jokes, (pun not-intended), haath se biryani khao, then plate mein chai piyo, like a brainstorming board that doesn’t go anywhere. But when a fight for life suddenly turns into a Best Chef reality show featuring Meiyang Chang and Sanjeev Kapoor, which then devolves into a dance off, the laughs are non-stop and well-earned, as things finally get bat-shit crazy and absurd. Spoof comedy is ruthless that way, the only way to sustain it is constant escalation.
0:00 - Intro 0:35 - Review 6:46 - Relation me Recommendation 7:13 - Movie Club
Vir Das is a very charming on-screen presence. OG Alien Chutney fans may enjoy the film’s songs, all of which, barring two are written by the filmmaker himself. My favorite is Alpha Male sung by Shalom Bejamin, a rock twist on Baari Barsi Khatan Gaya Si, underscoring Happy return to his “manhood”.
Sucharita Tyagi is the Vice Chairperson of the Film Critics Guild of India. With nearly 20 years of media experience, she is best known for her popular movie reviews on YouTube, where she has built a community of dedicated fans. Now splitting her time between Mumbai and New York, Tyagi also has extensive experience in broadcast radio. With a unique voice, she reviews films and discusses South Asian pop culture with honesty and passion through a contemporary, feminist lens, breaking down complex issues in relatable ways.
