Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai review: Varun Dhawan & Co. deliver laughs in this flawed, and at times, fun entertainer

HAi Jawani Toh Ishq Hona HaiCast: Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur, Pooja Hegde, Maniesh alice paul, squat Panday, jemmy Shergill, Mouni RoyDirector: saint david DhawanRating: ★★.5 (2.5 stars)This Friday's package office is united by an unlikely theme: consent. In one film (Peddi), a stranger plants a kiss on a woman forcefully. In another (Bandar), a man finds himself facing rape allegations. In a third, a wife refuses intimacy without a condom (Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai). Different genres, different stakes, but all three films, directly or indirectly, deal with the same idea: what happens when one person's desire collides with another person's boundary?Not that Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai is interested in dwelling on questions quite so serious. This is, after all, a Varun Dhawan-David Dhawan comedy. Their sole mission is to make you chuckle. Do they succeed? Let's find out.The plotThe story revolves around Jass (Varun Dhawan), whose wife, Bani (Mrunal Thakur), forces him to divorce her, on the grounds that she cannot keep up with his sexual appetite. It is a sore point given his desperation to become a father. (Incidentally, even the word "sex" is awkwardly dubbed over with "making love". As if the former were somehow too scandalous for a film built around the subject).Jass eventually moves on with Preet (Pooja Hegde). The real chaos begins when both women end up pregnant- and he is the father of both children. What follows is a comedy of errors, best experienced without too many spoilers. The verdictHai Jawani Toh... Proudly wears its nonsense on its sleeve. Yet, even by the standards of a David Dhawan comedy, the first half gets off to a dull start. The jokes rarely land, and there was an eerie silence in our theatre as almost nothing clicked, not the music or comedy, not even the infectious energy that one expects from this genre.The interval point, however, offers a glimmer of hope. As the second half embraces the chaos and settles into its own rhythm, Hai Jawani Toh... Gradually finds it's footing. Several gags and one-liners hit the mark. While the humour is naughty and loaded with double entendres, it doesn't slip into crass territory.Some of Farhad Samji's (writer) dialogues are delivered with such conviction that they manage to draw genuine chuckles. Sample this: when Mouni Roy shows up posing as his fake mother, an exasperated Varun quips, "Maa maangi thi Nirupa Roy jaisi, tune Mouni Roy jaisi bhej di!" On paper, it's a fairly ordinary joke, but the meta-nature of it, clicks.Now for what doesn't work. Virtually nothing of consequence happens in the first hour, making the film feel sluggish. Ironically, once the narrative gathers momentum, the second half stretches on for what feels like an eternity, with the climax milked too much. The film also indulges in toilet humour and the occasional fat-shaming. It may only be a fleeting moment, but naming an obese character "Tiny" for the obvious punchline feels dated and lazy.Performance-wise, Varun Dhawan is revisiting his Main Tera Hero playbook here, and that's hardly a complaint. His energy and comic timing suit this brand of chaotic entertainment, requiring him to run and stumble his way across London with enthusiasm.Maniesh Paul, playing Jass' friend, doesn't get enough screen time. The character feels similar to the one he played in Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, leaving him with little room to do anything new.Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde understand the assignment. The script doesn't demand much beyond looking glamorous, dancing well and reacting to the madness unfolding around them. Both do exactly that.Jimmy Sheirgill, meanwhile, spends most of the runtime sporting a serious expression and threatening gun violence as Preet's overprotective brother.The music of the film doesn't offer any chartbusters. Chunari Chunari stands out (because, nostalgia. Sigh.)Overall, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai asks very little of it's audience beyond a willingness to surrender to it's madness. The first half is a slog, the runtime is far longer than it needs to be. But once the chaos kicks in, the laughs begin to follow. Not every joke lands, but enough do for the film to scrape through.