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From the local cop to a `Haryanvi` gujjar boy, to his girlfriend`s brother, everybody is smitten by Dream Girl Pooja and her mesmerising voice, leading to a series of unusual, crazy situations. Set against the backdrop of Mathura, Dream Girl is a comedy of errors.
Critic Consensus
Critical reception for Dream Girl is moderately positive, with most reviewers agreeing it delivers consistent laughs and situational comedy, even if little else. Ayushmann Khurrana's performance — playing both male and female registers with charm and comic conviction — is the most widely cited strength across reviews. The most common criticism is that the film fails to develop its premise beyond its initial concept, with several critics noting the script is thin, the messaging on loneliness feels tacked on, and the overall product feels more suited to television than cinema. A number of reviewers cautioned audiences not to expect the sharper social commentary associated with Khurrana's earlier work.
21 reviews · 12 positive · 3 mixed
AI-generated summary of 21 critic reviews · may contain errors
Report inaccuracyCritic Reviews (21)
"Through all its hiccups if there's one thing that glues the film's bits together, it's Ayushmann Khurrana's uninhibited, confident performance as Karam aka Pooja. He brings grace and dignity to the kind of role that has been reduced to a drag cliché on so many of television's reality and comedy shows. He makes the film work even when the script fails it repeatedly. Go in with modest expectations and you may not be disappointed."Read full review ↗
"You stay watching Dream Girl for Ayushmann Khurrana. He plays Karam/Pooja with grace and conviction, and makes this thing sing."Read full review ↗
"DREAM GIRL is a laugh-a-minute-riot that fulfills all the expectations. At the box office, it has the chances of scoring big time with its target audience and is likely to enter the 100 crore club."Read full review ↗
"All said and done, just go for it! Take as many people as you can and just go laugh your heart out for these couple of hours. It not only busts the stress but also reminds you of how bad Bollywood was missing a good -written out and out comedy film."Read full review ↗
"Wobbly messaging aside, Dream Girl is an extremely fun watch. The songs are nothing great but the conversations between the characters continue to be the saving grace. It's especially commendable because it could have been really easy to make stale jokes and let a man dressed as a woman to bear the weight of the joke. Thankfully it doesn't. But perhaps the funniest lines are delivered by the lovesick men desperately looking for their 'Pooja'. Everything really comes together in the end quite neatly and thus the biggest takeaway for "Dream Girl" is that it's a fun watch with a sensitive message."Read full review ↗
"Watch it for all the hysterical punches and Ayushmann Khurrana's dialoguebaazi. Not to mention, the crackling situational comedy all of the above, make the film."Read full review ↗
"Dream Girl will surely entertain the film going audiences while sparking off an important conversation on gender constructs in Indian cinema."Read full review ↗
"Dream Girl goes in several exciting directions and comes out making light of it. It may not always be the best way to go about things but you'll come out laughing till your sides hurt. And how can that ever be a bad thing?"Read full review ↗
"...the film slips in a message on loneliness, social media friends and having someone to talk to. Despite the flaws, 'Dream Girl' attempts to show the leading man in a different light, and manages to entertain in parts."Read full review ↗
"Ayushmann flexes his comedic muscles in fun-filled entertainer...The film doesn't go in depth of characters, it just simply lets Ayushmann be a goof. As a concept, this is over the top hilarious."Read full review ↗
"Ayushmann Khurrana film is ROFL all the way. But that's all..."Read full review ↗
"Dream Girl is a non-stop gag-fest. And all that you need to know is if the gags being thrown at you at the speed of light, hits your brains, or bounces off the skull."Read full review ↗
"Dream Girl is your film if you are looking for a couple of hours packed with feel-good fun. Only, don't go in looking for deeper nuances just because the film flaunts Ayushmann Khurrana as its hero - there are none."Read full review ↗
"Dream Girl cuts almost straight to the chase, and after a very brief set-up, you land up in Karam's (Ayushman Khurana) workspace, a call centre which services clients who need female company. Like you know from the trailer, Karam too is a call centre executive who naughty-talks his way into caller's lives with his charm, wit and conversational personality. And this quickly leads to complications with his father, his fiancée's family, the police, etc. Despite this quick pace, everything that happens until the interval, you already know from the trailer. To top it off, the makers wanted to cover this up with a "message" about loneliness. These bits make the film seem directionless even though it is focused on one story-line throughout."Read full review ↗
"Ayushmann Khurrana & some excellent co-stars are funny despite bumpy writing..."Read full review ↗
"This film had tremendous potential just for the one-line brief that may have excited investors to back it. While it packs in some sharp one-liners and furnishes bizarre situations, it doesn't go beyond that. It's almost as if the makers were so excited with the very premise that they didn't bother to figure out where they wanted to take this story."Read full review ↗
"Ayushmann Khurrana's knack for social satire is marred by a script and aesthetics more suitable for television than cinema"Read full review ↗
"As Hindi film micro-genres go, Ayushmann Khurrana Chips Away At Masculine Tropes is a stellar one. It may have become a formula of sorts – there's one about hair loss coming up, and another built around a gay character – but the films have by and large been smart, funny and unusually perceptive about middle-class insecurities. Unfortunately, this makes matters worse for Dream Girl, a film that's slight to begin with, and which looks even slighter in comparison to Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan and Badhaai Ho."Read full review ↗
"A must-watch for Ayushmann Khurrana's laudable performance and a heavy dose of laughter to break free from your boring and busy lives."Read full review ↗
"As always, Ayushmann Khurrana finds interesting ways to spice up his scenes. It would have been easy to make this a ba-dum-dish punch line. But he infuses into it a dash of comic desperation. You laugh at (and with) him."Read full review ↗
"Ayushmann Khurrana is in fine form as the hero as well as the heroine...Raaj Shaandilyaa directs Ayushmann Khurrana as a call centre employee who puts on a woman's voice and gathers a fleet of admirers."Read full review ↗
Cast & Crew
Cast
- Ayushmann Khurrana · Lokesh Bisht
- Nushrat Bharucha · Dolly Shinde
- Abhishek Banerjee · Viraj
- Annu Kapoor · Supporting Actor
- Arbaaz Khan · Dharmendra
- Vijay Raaz · Supporting Actor
- Rahul Bagga · Asgar
Director
Screenplay
Music
Details
User Ratings & Reviews
4 ratings from the community
Community Reviews (2)
I entered the theater with little expectations from Raaj Shandilya and many expectations from Ayushmann Khurrana for the film 'Dream Girl'. How can someone have low expectations from someone who always manages to pull off a standout performance in each film, and has always chosen a slick script? And how can you expect too much from a filmmaker who was the scriptwriter of some of the worst Hindi films cinema ever got, like 'Happy New Year' or the most recent, 'Jabariya Jodi'? But honestly, when I left the theater, I came back smiling, with both the performer and the story-teller impressing me in equal measure. The film has a hilariously interwoven story, given already into the trailer itself- that there is a young unemployed man called Karam who gets the job of a call girl. And because of his sweet and seductive voice, he has in room many 'aashiqs', ranging from a police chaukidar to a Mumbai based lesbian 'all-men-are-dogs'. But he himself is an 'aashiq' of a random beauty, and thanks to only one romantic song, his fiance as well. The film is garnished with mindless comic humor, and Raaj is clever enough to add funnier, lighter, sillier jokes to cover up the bumpy script, something he has always managed to ace in 'Comedy Nights with Kapil', something he never managed to get well in his Bollywood films like 'Bhoomi'. And Ayushmann Khurrana's performance as Karam and the sexy Puja are one of the best performances by an Indian actor this year. With a satisfying quotient and with non-stop dialoguebaazi, the actor still gets away with the expressiveness. Nushrat Bharucha, throughout her small role in the film, tries to suck some air in a dumb love interest character. The others from the ensemble cast do have fun and they are fun. But the film is really very clunky in the execution. The thing sings, but in a voice which is crass. The film too doesn't go beyond the fundamental structure we saw in the trailer. The film, tackling the issue of loneliness, has little to say about the issue. These work as major loopholes in a script that doesn't hold together in an evident manner. But as I went on watching the film, I accepted these flaws because it was a bumpy road which led to an exciting destination that might be a little predictable, but it is all the way a very fascinating one. I embraced the film as a joyous, positive crowd-please that isn't marred down by its 'feel-good family entertainment' intentions. The styling of the film's characters also is so on point: I loved Nushrat in her sexy ethnics and wavy hairs. The comedy in the first half and the second half, both are flat-out hilarious. Also, its no 'Luka Chuppi', where every shot is almost insignificant, unimportant to the script. The film is a terrific comedy which is fun in both the halves, and thanks to Ayushmann Khurrana's good performance, the film satisfies. But keep your expectations a little under check, you'll have extra bunch of fun.
Dream Girl takes a formulaic approach at storytelling (of a man forced to use his feminine voice for employment) climaxing as a comedy of errors that is borderline sexist and discriminating at one point and liberal and pathbreaking at others, I was confused where the interests of director Raaj Shaandilyaa lay, but the one thing that I'm sure is about the comedy that he and his writers manage to generate. TN.


















