From Pakistan to China, a dull run

Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi

Hindi (U/A)

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Jimmy Sheirgill, Jassi Gill, Diana Penty, Ali Fazal

Director: Mudassar Aziz

Rating: **

Sonakshi Sinha is all track and field here. After all, she has to match up to the challenges of the title.

So, our Happy sprints to Shanghai where the bridal drama is played out in noodle-like tangles. Enter Happy No. 2 from Pakistan (Diana Penty) with her own coils of chaos. Soon, it’s a slushy mess even the chopsticks can't clear.

Pakistan was good fodder for the original. Here in the sequel, the neighbourhood tour is extended to China. Sadly, the humour hasn't made the crossing. So it's left to Chinese names (made to sound like expletives) to bring in some grin. Yawn.

Sonakshi plays a horticulture professor, but runs like an athlete. She finds a firm footing, though, as the feisty Punjaban. Several dimwit Chinese characters are strewn around the script so that our sprinter and her turbaned knight in not-so-shining armour (Jassi Gill) can trample them underfoot and... bhag, what else!

As the two Happys run amok with their entourage in tow, Jimmy Sheirgill has all the fun. Ever ready to wed, but never given a bride, Sheirgill breezes through all the "chin, chin, chu" with remarkable ease and a poker face. Must say, this man has perfect timing. And at the end, he stamps it all with a Yaara O Yaara, the Sunny Deol way.

Pakistan or China, mediocrity prevails wherever Happy sets foot. Where to next? But who cares!