Happy Bhag Jayegi

Harpreet "Happy" Kaur is supposed to marry Corporator Daman Singh Bagga in Amritsar, India, but has planned to elope with her musician boyfriend Guddu. She inadvertently finds herself aboard a lorry destined for Lahore; she is trapped inside a fruit basket that is delivered to the house of Bilal Ahmed, the ex-local governor's son. Meanwhile, in Amritsar, Guddu is taken hostage by Bagga. After fleeing Bilal's house, Happy creates a ruckus at a local marketplace and is arrested by police officer Usman Afridi. The officer informs Bilal, who decides to arrange for Happy's deportation. Unwilling to return to Amritsar, Happy blackmails Bilal into helping her using a contrived story about her being abducted by Bilal and his father. Bilal is then confronted by his fiancée Zoya, who initially suspects him of having an affair with Happy. Zoya later suggests bringing Guddu to Lahore, having him marry Happy there, and deporting them together. Bilal begrudgingly agrees to help Happy but has difficulty keeping her a secret from his father and struggles to keep Happy reined in. Bilal finds himself attracted to Happy, who develops a close friendship with him and Zoya. When Bilal's father travels to China for two weeks, he decides to go to India with Afridi to rescue Guddu. They pose as members of a Lahore-based music company and persuade Bagga they want Guddu to perform for their production in Lahore. Bagga realises their subterfuge and helplessly watches them board a bus to Lahore from Attari. He hires goons who abduct Happy from Bilal's house and sets off to Lahore along with Happy's father. Afridi arrests Bagga upon arrival and Happy's father escapes. Afridi rescues Happy, who re-unites with Guddu. Completely smitten with Happy, Bilal begins to avoid Zoya but reconciles with her later. Happy's father, in his desperate attempts to find his daughter, is mistaken for an Indian spy who is planning to kill Bilal's father. Bilal arranges for Happy's marriage to Guddu at a mass wedding event. Having escaped prison, Bagga also arrives at the mass wedding disguised as a groom. The event turns chaotic when Happy's father makes a frenzied attempt to get the governor's attention using a police officer's gun. Happy marries Guddu and they head to the airport chased by Happy's father, Bilal and Zoya, and Bagga and his goons who lose track of the group. Before boarding the flight to Amritsar, Happy seeks validation from her father, who obliges. She embraces Zoya and Bilal and departs. In a post-credits scene, Bagga seeks support for his election campaign at a public rally with Happy and Guddu in attendance; he declares himself the couple's saviour. Onlookers react with complete bafflement, much to the duo's amusement. == Cast ==

• Diana Penty as Harpreet Kaur aka Happy • Abhay Deol as Bilal Ahmed • Ali Fazal as Gurdeep Singh aka Guddu • Momal Sheikh as Zoya • Jimmy Sheirgill as Daman Singh Bagga • Lankesh Bhardwaj as Rajinder • Kanwaljit Singh as Happy's Father • Javed Sheikh as Javed Ahmed, Bilal's Father • Piyush Mishra as Usman Afridi • Jagat Rawat as Fakhru • Ayesha Raza Mishra as Rifat Bi • Ashu Sharma as Winkle == Production ==

Development Mudassar Aziz had been working on the script for Happy Bhag Jayegi since 2012; pre-production work for the project began when Aanand L. Rai agreed to produce it under the label Colour Yellow Productions with Aziz as the director. It was Rai's first venture as a producer and Aziz's first as a director in over four years. The film was conceived as a "cross-border" romantic comedy and was originally titled Dolly Lahore Mein, a reference to film's setting, Lahore, Pakistan. The title was later changed to the current one because the central character was renamed Harpreet "Happy" Kaur. Rai talked about his transition from a director to producer, saying that being associated with a project as a producer would help him become "a complete filmmaker". Rai said he would not interfere with Aziz's creative process and would give him complete freedom as a director. Diana Penty was cast as the central character; it was Penty's first project since her screen debut in the romantic comedy Cocktail (2012). Penty said she was instantly attracted to the film's script and the character, which was nothing like her previous role and described Happy as a "very confident and ... quite a forthcoming character". Before filming began, Penty spent considerable time in Amritsar to acclimatise to the environment. Punjabi actor Nilima Sharma helped Penty further prepare for the role; she said, "I picked up a lot from [Sharma], especially things like her diction and body language". Ali Fazal was offered the role of Guddu, an unsuccessful musician and Penty's love interest in the film. Faza described the character as "a very boy-next-door, vulnerable kind". Filming and post-production , Punjab Principal photography for Happy Bhag Jayegi began in September 2015; it took place in Amritsar, Chandigarh, and Mumbai in separate schedules. Saurabh Goswami worked as the director of photography and the production design was handled by Wasiq Khan. The costumes, which included traditional Indian clothing for Penty, and Pathani suits for Deol were designed by Ankita Jha and Nidhi Gambhir. While a large part of Happy Bhag Jayegi is set in Lahore, Pakistan, the film was shot at locations in various cities of Punjab, India. The filming process for Happy Bhag Jayegi was completed in March 2016. The production's rough cut was edited by the Mumbai-based editor and technician Ninad Khanolkar and the sound mixing was done by Arun Nambiar. Co-produced by Rai under his label Colour Yellow Productions and Krishika Lulla of Eros International, the film was made on an estimated budget of . Its final cut runs for 126 minutes. The international distribution rights for Happy Bhag Jayegi were acquired by Eros International. Lulla released a statement discussing the project's "local milieu" and the universal theme; she said the film "brings out flavours of real India [and] highlights intricacies of human emotions and will touch everyone's heart". == Soundtrack ==

The soundtrack for Happy Bhag Jayegi was composed by music director and singer Sohail Sen. The lyrics were written by Mudassar Aziz, with the exception of the song "Gabru Ready To Mingle Hai", which features a rap segment with English lyrics written by Dee MC. Harshdeep Kaur, Shahid Mallya, Mika Singh, Neeti Mohan, Tarannum Malik, Danish Sabri, Arijit Singh, and Altamash Faridi provided vocals for the album's songs. The soundtrack was released on 1 August 2016 on the label Eros Music. == Marketing and Promotion ==

A promotional first-look poster for Happy Bhag Jayegi showing Penty and Deol wearing traditional salwar kamiz and sneakers, and a pathani suit and a Nehru jacket respectively, was released on 19 July 2016. Fazal and Shergill are visible in the background. The trailer for the film was released by the cast and crew during an episode of The Kapil Sharma Show, an Indian television sketch comedy series. Upon release, the three-minute trailer received positive comments from reviewers; a writer from Daily News and Analysis said it had "a lot of commotion and funny moments that'll tickle you ... our heart goes out to Abhay who is simply at his best". Controversy During the Happy Bhag Jayegi musical event in 2016, Mika Singh cracked a joke on Penty's surname, that did not go well with her. After much prodding, the actress opened up on the matter and said, "I don’t find these jokes funny. I don’t even understand how people laugh at such comments." == Release ==

Happy Bhag Jayegi was released theatrically in India on 19 August 2016. == Reception ==

Critical response Happy Bhag Jayegi received a mixed response from film critics. Rohit Vats of the Hindustan Times praised the film, writing that the "supply of situational comedy won't end till you leave the theatre", and added that although the idea initially seems "far-fetched", the build-up to the film's climax dispelled his doubts. Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in similarly said the film "survives its manufactured premise", "has enough momentum to steer it through even its most unmanageable manoeuvres", and "sprints hilariously to the victory podium". The view was also shared by Rajeev Masand who was appreciative of the film's comic elements in his review for News18; he wrote that the film is "mostly fun despite its shortcomings, because the humor [was] earned". Writing for the Deccan Chronicle, Rohit Bhatnagar dubbed the production a "perfect family entertainer" and called it Aziz's best work. Similarly, The Wire critic Tanul Thakur attributed the film's appeal to Aziz's "honest" writing and attention to detail, noting it showed that "[Aziz] is invested and, more importantly, cares about his story". Both India Todays Suhani Singh and The Hindus Namrata Joshi also praised the refreshing treatment of relationship between India and Pakistan in the film. Commentators including Uday Bhatia of Mint and Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express were critical of the film's scattered narrative; the latter noted the script's intermittent humour, saying, "despite its occasional throwaway lines, and nice touches, it never comes together". Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com was largely dismissive of the "witless and flimsy" plot. She was also critical of the poor characterisation of the title character, calling her a "sloppy protagonist who's neither convincing in her mischief nor original in her exploits", and added that the character is further weighed down by a script "that sees odd virtue in her cantankerous ways". The performances of most of the cast were well received by film critics. The collections grew over the course of the weekend; the film earned on Saturday and on Sunday to bring the first-weekend total to ; the increase in its earnings was credited to positive word of mouth. Collections held steady throughout the week with the film grossing a total of . Happy Bhag Jayegi did particularly well in urban areas such as Mumbai and the National Capital Region, where it collected and , respectively. Despite a slow start, the film grossed a total of at the domestic box office in its theatrical run and was a considered a sleeper hit by media outlets. Happy Bhag Jayegi earned at the North American box office and about in the such other international markets as the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The film has grossed worldwide. == Sequel ==

Penty confirmed her involvement in a sequel to Happy Bhag Jayegi through her Twitter account. Rai and Eros Now were also confirmed as producers, and Aziz was retained as director for the sequel. The sequel, entitled Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi was released on 24 August 2018. == Notes ==