A genre that Bollywood has made its own is the masala film genre. One caveat that always accompanies such a film is “Leave your brains home!”. Well yeah, Anees Bazmee’s Mubarakan is the latest to fall in this category.
Silly? Haan! Absurd? Haan! Still fun? Haan bhai haan. The premise is a sloppy one though. Two full grown men can’t confront their parents and tell them straight up about their girlfriends. Instead, on offer is bovine submissions and some tacky plans which lead to more confusion. But that’s never a problem.
Punjabis thrive well in confusion. The Punjabi songs, galis, Patiala pegs and pags were all employed to play their parts well.
Arjun Kapoor has a double role – one as the turbaned Charan and his naughty non-pag-wearing judwa bhai Karan. When a fateful car crash leaves them orphaned, Karan gets adopted by his London wali bua and Charan by his India wale chacha.
This makes Kartar Singh (Anil Kapoor) “ek ka chacha” and “dusre ka mama”. The inside joke of Kapoor clan about Anil Kapoor ageing in reverse has finally become a major movie plot as Sanjay Kapoor actually does play the elder brother of his real life elder brother and no one is having more fun than Anil Kapoor himself.
Also it must be added that he is quite impeccable and gives even the film’s hero Arjun Kapoor a run for his money.
One thing that really seems to have worked in favour of Mubarakan is the ensemble cast. Arjun Kapoor, playing Karan and Charan as inhibited and slightly inhibited, is just about okay. Despite that, it is left to Pawan Malhotra and Ratna Pathak Shah to peddle their wares brilliantly.
Gone is the swag of Maya Sarabhai, as Ratna Pathak Shah in her the glitter-clad possessive mother of a reluctant groom desi avatar adds vibrancy and punch to the proceedings. Aptly supported by Pawan Malhotra who does the angry jat impression flawlessly.
Of the girls, Ileana D’Cruz has more screen time and makes the most of it. Athiya Shetty is mostly wooden and Neha Sharma mostly absent.
There are lots of songs, some witty dialogues, and overall a light and fluffy feel which works just fine, but for some stretched bits post-interval. If only the runtime of 156 minutes had been judiciously pruned, Mubarakan would have been even more welcoming. Still worth a watch if you may.
I give it 3 Quints out of 5.
Keep your brain on airplane mode for a better experience.
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