'Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2' Movie Review: Kapil Sharma Versus The World

You've watched Dhurandhar. You've watched Tere Ishk Mein. You've watched Haq. You wouldn't admit it, but you've also watched The Taj Story. Now you want to fold the year in peace. How about a silly Kapil Sharma comedy? I hadn't seen the trailer for Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2 and went in expecting more of the same: a tumescent comedy about a man with many wives, with no wars or social unrest to worry about, no particular politics to propagate. The first film, released in 2015, was some form of a hit. Surely the sequel will abide?

Yes and no. Anukalp Goswami's film is as silly, juvenile and devoid of comic good sense as you'd think. Yet it is also a fairly open-hearted film—and a surprisingly committed skewering of bigoted and hyper-religious India. Our hero, Mohan (Kapil Sharma), is a Bhopal restaurateur who wants to marry his teenage sweetheart. The girl is Muslim, neither family is of the accepting ilk, and there is considerable danger to their lives. When no doors shall open, the couple decide to elope to Goa and marry as Christians. A series of twists too absurd to summarise finds the chivalrous Mohan married to a Christian, a Hindu and a Muslim — none of them, unfortunately, the woman he loves.

Manjot Singh takes over sidekick duties from Varun Sharma (In this way, the entire Fukrey cast is assured of some employment). Mohan, much like the protagonist of the first film, is a well-heeled descendant of Anil Kapoor and Govinda from the 90s, the hapless Indian male juggling multiple lives and wives — an involuntary non-celebate, if you will. The descriptor 'bechara', though, is an odd fit for Kapil, whom everyone in the film finds endlessly, unquestioningly attractive, and who can wriggle out of unfathomable comic spots with the flimsiest of excuses.

Goswami worked as a writer for many years on The Kapil Sharma Show. Everything from the costuming to the knee-jerk location changes speaks to that pedigree. Goswami’s humour works best when satirising the world that is driving Mohan crazy. The film finds something risible in our nation's over-obsession with religion and matrimony. "Repeat 'I do'," a priest instructs Mohan at his Church wedding, to which he chirrups, "I have to do." There are anti-Romeo squads milling around, prying hungrily into private lives, and Mohan's father (played by Akhilendra Mishra) wears the disgruntled affect of a right-wing prude. The film spares no demography: late actor Asrani turns up as a polyglot padre singing a moralist tune.

Wherever its gender politics may lie, Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2 will surprise its own (conservative, middle-aged) fan base. For one, the film takes a commendably progressive view of consensual religious conversions: "It's about accepting, not changing," Mohan says. Now and then, characters will air simple Manmohan Desai truisms that were utterly commonplace a decade ago yet feel brave in the current context. Near the climax, Mohan practically weaponises secularism to justify his lies. It infuriated me. It made me nostalgic. It made me want to cry. For in this one respect, the film is pure fantasy.