Two kids stand by a public telephone. One of them pleads the other to talk to his class teacher impersonating his mother. The kid has failed in his exams and wants his friend to save him from the wrath of his mother and teacher. The friend, with a gift of perfect voice modulation, is convincing enough to win this cute little battle. As they grow up, Karamveer Singh (Ayushman Khurrana) and Smiley (Manjot Singh), the two friends have had many such instances where Karam has made use of his voice to get out of situations.
But this is not all that Karam does with his voice. At the locally performed Ram Leela in his hometown, Mathura, he is coerced into playing Sita. So convincing is his performance that the entire town greets him and seeks blessings from him. Unemployed and often ridiculed by his father Jagjeet Singh (Annu Kapoor), Karam is desperate to find a job that can help them get out of their deplorable financial condition. He finds one at a secret call centre populated by women, mostly working graveyard shift, to comfort men (and sometimes women) struggling with lonely lives. Karam has hated playing a woman, but the pull of a monthly paycheck is bigger than how much he despises being a woman. And hence, he becomes Pooja for the many callers, indulging them in conversations that are engaging, some times deep and many a times bawdy, too.
Pooja is the companion that everyone in this increasingly lonely world is looking for. She understands the person on the call to have a conversation that interests them. So, a shayar-cop, Rajpal, played by Vijay Raaz, is indulged in shayaris; a young-misunderstood Toto (Raj Bhansali) – a small-town hip guy – is tackled like a distracted youngster would; a thrice heratbroken Roma (Nidhi Bisht) finds solace in the emotional connect with Pooja but more in male-bashing. It goes on.
Khurrana, who seems to be having a lot of fun playing the character, has aced roles which had him portray dual personalities from his debut film Vicky Donor. Even in Dream Girl, he keeps up the promise, but is let down by the script that's contrived and convoluted. In order to achieve a Priyadarshan-style climax, writer-director Raaj Shaandilya (along with co-writer Nirmaan D. Singh), an old-hand in television comedy, introduces so many characters that it stars weighing heavily. If the first half of the film is fun-filled with dialogues that land well, the second half is confused. In order to deliver a message, or may be many messages, through the film, Dream Girl neither remains a madcap comedy, nor does it become a satirical take on the loneliness that we are fighting in a world dominated by social media connections rather than real-life ones.
The film tries its best to address the issues that it raises through its plot—of Muslim inclusivity, of the existence of toxic masculinity, of ageist purview—but is not able to do complete justice. It gets trapped in making everything funny and still have a stand on these issues, like may be Stree did last year. However, unlike Stree, the writing lacks depth and vision.
Even with performers like Annu Kapoor, Vijay Raaz, and an under-utilised Manjot Singh, the film in most part looks like a badly executed stage show. The leading lady, Nushrat Bharucha, has been included in the story only so that it develops into the romance angle as well. There's little role she plays to give the story a direction with any meaning.
Film: Dream Girl
Director: Raaj Shaandilya
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Nushrat Bharucha
Rating: 2/5
