Mubarakan

About the film

Mubarakan (transl. Congratulations) is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Anees Bazmee. The film stars Anil Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor (in a dual role), Ileana D'Cruz, Athiya Shetty, Neha Sharma, Karan Kundra and Ratna Pathak Shah in the lead roles with Sanjay Kapoor in a special appearance. The storyline revolves around twin brothers, both played by Arjun Kapoor in his second-ever dual role. The film released theatrically worldwide on 28 July 2017 in 2350 screens in India and 475 screens overseas.

Made on a budget of ₹650 million (US$6.8 million), Mubarakan has grossed over ₹93.24 million (US$980,000) at the global box office.

Plot

In 1990, Avtar Singh Bajwa, his wife, and their twin sons meet with a car accident, which kills Avtar and his wife though the twins survive. They are sent to Avtar's brother Kartar, a confirmed bachelor, who gives the first son, Karan, to his London-based sister, Jeeto, and the second son, Charan, to his Punjab-settled brother, Baldev.

23 years later, Karan and Charan have grown up respectively in London and Punjab. Karan loves the hot and gorgeous Supreet "Sweety" Kaur Gill for 2 years, but Jeeto's husband, Paramjeet Sood, sets him to wed Binkle, the daughter of Paramjeet's business partner, Akalpreet Sandhu. To marry Sweety, Karan asks Baldev to make Charan marry Binkle. In Punjab, Charan is dating a Muslim, Nafisa Qureshi, but hasn't told this to Baldev as he is biased against Muslims. He takes Charan to London.

Charan tells about Nafisa to Kartar, who suggests that he act as a drug addict in front of the Sandhus to break the alliance. Charan does this but falls for Binkle at first sight. Her brother Manpreet, due to a misunderstanding, assumes him to be a druggist. Upset, Baldev misbehaves with Akalpreet, and Jeeto later insults him. He severs ties with her and decides to come back to Punjab. As Charan is back with Nafisa, he asks Karan to bring her to the airport to talk to Baldev. Karan brings Nafisa, but Charan is terrified to speak.

Production

The Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend, Kent features as the temple the families worship. The film is originally scheduled to release on 10 August 2015.

Soundtrack

The music of the film has been composed by Amaal Mallik, Gourov Roshin, Rishi Rich, while the lyrics have been penned by Kumaar. Its first song, "Mubarakan (Title Track)" was released on 22 June 2017. The second single titled "Hawa Hawa" which is sung by Mika Singh and Prakriti Kakar, was released on 29 June 2017. This was the copy of Pakistani singer Hasan Jehangir's song. The soundtrack was unveiled on 6 July 2017 by T-Series, which consists of 6 songs.

Critical reception

Rohit Vats of Hindustan Times rated it 3/5 and felt that the lead actor, Arjun Kapoor, was overshadowed by Anil Kapoor: "It’s just that Anil Kapoor is a pro at it and steals all the limelight from him (Arjun).....You’ll be occasionally laughing, but probably won’t be leaving the theatre with a big smile on your face.

Meena Lyer of Times of India rated the film 3/5 and concluded: "Anil is the scene-stealer with his half Brit-half Punjabi act lifting the film throughout. Arjun’s double-act allows for some smiles and the girls, Ileana, Athiya and Neha are easy on the eye, though they’re just decorative set-pieces."

Manju Ramanan of Masala! gave the film 3.5/5, saying, "Loud characters, bright sets, songs and dances and slapstick humour dominate this Anees Bazmee film. But the instances do make you smile.

Key details