‘Son of Sardaar 2' review: A confused, half-hearted comedy

Mint

3 days ago

Thirteen years after Son of Sardaar hit cinemas with its brand of crowd-pleasing comedy, its sequel arrives with less humour and even less purpose. Vijay Kumar Arora takes the helm of Son of Sardaar 2, repackaging the chaotic energy of the original into a modern comedy about mistaken identities, cross-border friction, and manufactured family values.
Son of Sardaar 2 is not a direct narrative continuation of the original but borrows the premise of an impromptu fake family assembled for a wedding from the 2017 Turkish film Aile Arasında (Between Family). In this version, a Pakistani family enlists the help of a kind-hearted, gullible Indian Sikh man to help the youngest member marry her Sikh boyfriend.
Ajay Devgn plays Jassi, a gentle Sikh protagonist whose journey from Punjab to the UK—after finally receiving his long-awaited spouse visa—doesn't yield the results he expected. Cuckolded by his wife Dimple (Neeru Bajwa), an aimless Jassi finds himself caught in the middle of India-Pakistan cultural chaos.
Mrunal Thakur is radiant, bringing some life to the screen as Rabia, a wedding performer who lives and works with her girl gang, which includes her stepdaughter Saba (Roshni Walia), Gul (Deepak Dobriyal), and Mehwish (Kubbra Sait).
Rabia convinces Jassi to pretend to be Saba's father in order to win over Saba's boyfriend, Goggi's conservative Sikh father, Raja (Ravi Kishan), a sheep farmer in Scotland who never misses an opportunity to pull out a gun or to bash Pakistan. The film's overuse of India–Pakistan humour is one of its most jarring elements, especially when Raja leads crowds in patriotic chants. The screenplay opts for easy jabs and recycled gags, undermining its half-hearted attempts at conveying a message about unity and tolerance. Jokes about national stereotypes, gender roles, and interfaith romance fly fast and loose, but few actually land.
Jassi poses as an army man, Rabia and her girls pretend to be Indian, and Raja—along with his equally small-minded brothers Tittu (Vindu Dara Singh) and Tony (Mukul Dev)—is almost convinced of the match. Devgn leads an ensemble of interchangeable actors—Sanjay Mishra, Vindu Dara Singh, Sharat Saxena, and Ashwini Kalsekar—who seem to migrate from one ensemble comedy to the next.
Shot in Punjab and the UK, the film does have visual appeal and a clean production design. But these surface-level strengths can't compensate for a screenplay that doesn't know whether it wants to be a satire, a family entertainer, or a commentary on modern relationships.
The performances reflect this uncertainty. Devgn plays Jassi with the kind of weary familiarity that suggests he knows exactly what kind of film he's in—and is content to coast through it. Like the rest of the film, his romance with Mrunal Thakur feels laboured and unconvincing. The supporting cast fares worse, with many actors leaning into broad, theatrical performances that only add to the overall chaos.
Amid all this, Deepak Dobriyal emerges as a rare bright spot. As a quick-thinking trans woman, he brings a much-needed sense of timing and restraint. His natural delivery and understated presence are completely at odds with the rest of the cast's exaggerated antics. Ravi Kishan adds a dash of sparkle to his scenes, though he too is hemmed in by the film's tonal inconsistency.
The film lurches between farce and sentimentality without ever finding its comic rhythm, seeming constantly unsure of who it's entertaining.
Udita Jhunjhunwala is a Mumbai-based film critic.