Critics’ Verdict ‘Judwaa 2’: It’s Varun Dhawan All the Way

Check out how critics are reacting to Varun Dhawan’s ‘Judwaa 2’.

Film: Judwaa 2
Director: David Dhawan
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Taapsee Pannu, Jacqueline Fernandez

Here are excerpts from reviews of Judwaa 2:

If you discount the costumes and the slick production design and camerawork, the movie offers absolutely no novelty. The story and treatment are still stuck in the 1990s, when the original film Judwaa (starring Salman Khan and released in 1997) was made. The film is intended for and belongs to Varun Dhawan. He clearly enjoys what he is doing and shines in both the roles. He has clearly worked hard at keeping the characters different from each other. However, the heroines are ornamental and embarrassingly tolerant of the blatant sexism by the men they adore. Both Pannu and Fernandez look gorgeous, wear teensy-weensy clothes, giggle a lot and serve their intended purpose.

Shubha Shetty Saha (Scroll.in)

The knockabout slapstick signature of David Dhawan hasn’t altered a jot over four decades. So be it. The sing-and-dance sections – including the reprise of Anu Malik’s tunes Oonchi hai building and Tan tana tan – are executed with a spirited style. The dialogue writing and the supporting ensemble (especially Rajpal Yadav as a meant-to-be hilarious speech-impaired flunkey) are strictly slapdash. Salman Khan’s cameo is a sporting gesture and that’s it. Jacqueline Fernandez and Taapsee Pannu, outfitted in swimsuits, are around for the glamsham quotient. Ergo, what’s the saving grace if any? It’s two Varun Dhawans for the price of one. The actor has what it takes to be high-energetic and endearing. In the event, he succeeds in varying his impersonations of the as-different-as-moonlight-and-sunshine bhai bhai. Mercy be.

Khalid Mohamed (Spotboye.com)

I like young Dhawan. I enjoy his work in movies as disparate as Badlapur and Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya, but in Judwaa 2 he isn’t allowed to do his own thing. Instead, he’s trying to match a marvellously inane Salman Khan performance. Bad move. The new film is almost exactly like the old one - it is as if they used the same script - but the unpredictable off-the-wall bounciness of the original is now executed by template. The other problem Varun and this film face, of course, is that the Khans are still very much around. Salman shows up in Judwaa 2 as well, tight tee-shirt and everything, and, even twenty years later, puts this unnecessary remake in its place. All we have here is a weak cover version.

Raja Sen (Ndtv.com)