Shah Rukh Khan's HAPPY NEW YEAR released on October 24 instead of January 1. KILL DIL released on November 14 instead of February 14. And now Saif Ali Khan's HAPPY ENDING releases today(November 21) instead of December 31! Movie titles have lost making sense or being relevant. The question is how India's largely dehati audience deciphers the meaning. Maybe the Hinglish title makes them think it is an English flick and keep away from it. And rightly so. This time around, everyone unanimously decide to keep away.


Womaniser Yudi Jaitley(Saif in double role - Yudi / Yogi!) is suffering from a writer's block. A happy-but-commitment-phobic guy, he meets his similar'soul mate' Aanchal Reddy(Ileana D'Cruz). U'd say it is indeed happy ending! In walks a fading Bollywood star Armaan(Govinda) who wants to revive his kaput career and decides only a sleek script can save him(read his slim career). And he promptly puts his heavy-weight(literally) not behind but over Yudi. The writer is now completely blocked and even a good-looking heroine(Ileana) is unable to unblock this nose, noose or whatever.


Govinda should take it easy. It is not easy to have two flops(KILL DIL, HAPPY ENDING) in quick succession. Saif can find his solace in Kareena Kapoor. BTW, she too is there in the movie. Saif too is over the hill and blockbusters can't be expected of him. He looks stressed.(Keeping Kareena'happy' all the time may not come easy.) Ileana may get one or two Hindi movies but she doesn't seem hot. This is her hat-trick flop(Phata Poster Nikla Hero; Main Tera Hero, Happy Ending). If you've watched English TV series Californication(2007-2014), you'll find where Saif derives his inspiration(from Hank Moody). Did you see Sweet Liberty(1986) then you'll find the inspiration(Michael Caine) for Govinda's character.


The 3-4 fewer viewers r happy when the movie ends. Probably they r waiting for the next Hinglish titled movie, where they can rightly put their over-used(read worn-out) sandals to good use!

Saif Ali Khan is in every single frame. And he shimmers, with his 'dude' like costumes and brattish, dapper look. He plays Yudi, a broke writer who has a studio apartment in plush Los Angeles. Now hold your horses before I blurt out more deductions, and this is just the first five minutes. He chases skirt as a full time job, but doesn't believe in commitment. This is the crux of the clichéd story we have vowed not to talk about. Frames pass by with bits of average humor and drama, and another writer turns up. Aanchal (Ileana) is the female version of Yudi, who is originally a fake, but you shouldn't worry about it (even the writers don't).

A phony weirdo (Govinda) comes out of nowhere and asks penniless, one-book old writer Yudi to pen a script which shouldn't be "hard-hitting and fine as life." This is like a film inside a film, and it sucks big time. If all other sequences of the film except the ones with Govinda in it were to be trimmed out, I would have personally marched to the production studio and burned the prints of the film with gasoline and then proudly be incarcerated for arson. And then somehow I'd have written a review from inside the prison. Now Govinda is fine with his portrayal, I loathed his character for mocking reality. Yeah, he and his dialogs spark and take potshot at the reality bits of film-making - the Southern film remaking machinery in Bollywood, plagiarism, et al. But, along with all that we had to put up - his physique and blown-off, heavily expletive- ridden songs, I almost had a panic attack myself, just like Yudi constantly has in the film.

Ranvir Shorey is the only character that I enjoyed watching; his funny dialogs actually made him look like a hero from a Pritish Nandy production, but it was satisfactory. Koechlin was fine. And surprise, surprise - Preity Zinta has finally come out of the cave and portrays so realistically the role of a cleavage-revealing, thigh-flashing, generously saggy boobed mother of triplets. I almost thought, looking at her physique, that she really gave birth to the triplets for the sake of the role.

Cinematography, editing, and all those stuffs that Bollywood usually doesn't bother about while making a film were fine. It is evident that the makers wanted to come up with a film that would reflect the Y, the X, and the selfie generation clubbed together, but the recipe is so outdated and stale that if it were to be found in the recesses of popular website 4chan, it would not surprise me.

BOTTOM LINE: Raj & DK have carved out a film using resources from various facets of traditional life, re-enacting them in a foreign location, spicing normal dialogs, casting hot actors, tinging it with generic essences of romance and commitment-phobic expressions to conclude in a corollary that evinces how broke and expended all the people connected with the project really are, which includes Saif and excludes puppet Ileana.

Happy Ending, is a Rom-Com film by Raj Nidimoru, Krishna DK. Deals with the story of individuals wanting to have fun of romance, but having commitment phobia. This plot has been experimented many times in the past, some have worked and some have not worked. And this movie Happy Ending lacks romance as well as comedy. It has comedy in bits and pieces, whereas romance as such is not at all felt throughout the movie.
Yudi (Saif Ali Khan) is a one-time wonder writer of a book. After writing the book, 5 ½ years have gone by and he had 8 ½ girlfriends also. He is living off royalties. He believes in enjoying life with fame, money and girls. He breaks off with the girls when they start proposing (The very first scene has Kareena proposing Saif, followed by his walking out of the relationship). Montu (Ranvir Shorey), Yudi’s friend loves to party with him, but he has to actually seek permission from his wife for the same. And there is Yudi’s alter ego synonym Yogi (Saif Ali Khan) who keeps questioning Yudi’s every action, throws words of wisdom. Vishakha (Kalki Koechlin), is madly in love with Yudi. She puts a Tracker app on his mobile so as to track his whereabouts. Yudi feels suffocated in her love and keeps avoiding her.
Yudi’s king-size life gets a blow when his vehicle is towed away by the publisher, and his contract has been given to Aanchal Reddy (Ileana D’Cruz).
Yudi is helped by his publisher friend to write a story for a film with Armaan (Govinda) in the lead. Armaan explains to Yudi that he wants a ‘Kick-Ass’ script for his movie. Armaan wants a Romedy which can become a blockbuster all over the world.
Yudi tries to flirt with Aanchal and learns that she is also commitment-phobic (who actually churns out romantic best sellers but does not believe in the concept of love). Rest of the movie revolves around, how Yudi and Aanchal approach their relationship. They also spend time together to write stories. What is it that brings Aanchal and Yudi closer (probably nothing)? What happens when two commitment-phobic people get together in life? Is there any Happy Ending in their relationship?
Happy Ending movie lacks the passion. First half is dreadfully boring. Saif Ali Khan lacked the charm he had in Love Aaj Kal, Hum-Tum. Ileana definitely looks very pretty on screen, but that is it about her performance. Kalki has done justice to her obsessive character. Divya (Preity Zinta), Yudi’s ex-girl friend has nothing much to do. Govinda gives some laughter moments with his cosmetic surgery and six pack abs scene. Ranvir is absolutely wasted. Music is not at all impressive. Movie has been mostly shot at Los Angles, San Francisco.

Happy Ending lacks the punch of Happiness and Passion. Doesn’t have the depth.