Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai movie review: Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur and Pooja Hegde’s chunnari of comedy flies away with flat punchlines.
Quick Vibes
Genre: Slapstick comedy
Vibes: Loud, chaotic, and unapologetically masala
Film Credits
Cast: Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur, Pooja Hegde, Maniesh Paul, Jimmy Sheirgill, Mouni Roy, Rajesh Kumar
Director: David Dhawan
Writers: David Dhawan (story), Yunus Sajawal (screenplay), Farhad Samji (dialogues)
Story
Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai kicks off at a therapist’s office, where Jass (Varun Dhawan) and Bani (Mrunal Thakur) are already sparring over “family planning.” Jass is desperate to become a dad, while Bani is busy planning her career, armed with protection and practicality. Their tug‑of‑war escalates straight to divorce court, where the judge hands them a six‑month “lock/unlock” cooling‑off period.
Bani advises Jass to move on. So, what do they do? They share a wildly drunk “farewell” night together, because nothing screams closure quite like making a terrible decision.
Cut to London, where Jass has taken the advice to “move on” a bit too literally. He’s now wooing Preet (Pooja Hegde) whose brother Randhawa (Jimmy Sheirgill) believes guns are the answer to every problem. Just as Jass is settling into his new romance, Bani lands at his doorstep with a pregnancy revelation. And because chaos never travels alone, Preet soon discovers she’s pregnant too.
What follows next is Jass running a high-stakes marathon between two pregnant women, dodging a trigger-happy prospective brother-in-law, and weaving a web of lies so tangled that even his best friend (played by Maniesh Paul) can barely keep up.
What’s Yay
For once, David Dhawan resists dusting off his old playbook of “cheating is comedy.” Unlike Biwi No.1 or Saajan Chale Sasural, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai doesn’t normalize infidelity. Instead, the chaos comes from Jass juggling two pregnancies. It’s messy, yes, but at least not morally tone‑deaf. The pop culture references also work well.
What’s Nay
The punchlines in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai land softer than a pillow fight. When the laughs finally show up, they’re mostly recycled gags dressed in a shiny new costume.
Writing And Direction
While David Dhawan thankfully bypasses the toxic infidelity traps of his past, he also leaves behind the sharp, laugh-a-minute writing that made his classics work. The film sorely misses the sparkle that his past collaborators like Kader Khan, Anees Bazmee, or Rumi Jaffery used to bring to the table. Instead, Yunus Sajawal’s screenplay feels toothless, and Farhan Samji’s dialogues are bland as reheated popcorn.
Some parts of the film are stubbornly stuck in a 90s timewarp. Also, can we please banish lazy weight-shaming gags? Playing a literal elephant’s trumpet sound effect in the background when a plus-sized character is on screen is a joke older than the internet. It’s 2026; surely Bollywood can find fresher ways to make us laugh.
Performances
Remember Main Tera Hero (2014)? Varun Dhawan as Seenu was an absolute riot there. He channeled that effortless, flamboyant masala-hero energy so smoothly that it felt like his second nature. Flash forward to Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, and that trademark ease seems to be missing here.
Sure, he nails the occasional burst of physical comedy and brings out Jass’s innate smugness exactly where needed. But then, there are a few places where he is less Varun and more “Govinda‑Salman cosplay,” especially when the dialogue delivery leans into mimicry rather than mischief.
And a quick note to the writers: if you have to force multiple characters to literally call Varun “cute” out loud, your visual storytelling is in trouble.
Dhawan’s energy is undeniable, but here it feels like he’s juggling nostalgia instead of carving out his own comic groove.
Mrunal Thakur gets the short end of the stick with a character arc that moves faster than a Bollywood montage. One moment she’s laying down strict career boundaries, the next she is on her way to be mommy dearest. Despite this whiplash, the actress still manages to inject Bani with an earnestness the screenplay barely earns.
Pooja Hegde, meanwhile, is handed the “glamorous Dhawan heroine” starter pack: look stunning, react to chaos, and stress about your partner’s mess. She plays Preet with breezy charm and lights up the screen effortlessly, but her talent is mostly left on standby.
Thankfully, the climax delivers a healthy dose of poetic justice to both their characters.
The rest of the ensemble squeezes every drop out of what’s written for them. Jimmy Sheirgill, Mouni Roy, and Maniesh Paul lean into the chaos with just the right amount of flair. Rakesh Bedi, fresh off Dhurandhar’s success, is a dhurandhar here too. His comic timing lands like clockwork. Manoj Pahwa, Rajpal Yadav, and Johnny Lever drop in for brief cameos as Jass’s school teachers, and they instantly remind you why they’re the undisputed veterans of Bollywood comedy.
Tech Check
Cinematographer Ayananka Bose paints the film in candy‑bright colors. His frames are glossy, loud, and keeps the chaos visually buoyant.
Editor Ritesh Soni stitches together the logic‑defying madness with commendable precision. So even when the jokes miss their mark, you’re spared from sitting through dead air.
Playlist Fact
One of the biggest letdowns of Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai is its soundtrack. A David Dhawan film without memorable songs is like a masala thali missing the chutney. Hardy Sandhu and Kiran Bajwa’s party track Wow might find takers on Insta reels as it’s foot‑tapping enough to fuel a few dance challenges.
Then comes the revamped version of Salman Khan-Sushmita Sen’s iconic 90s hit Chunari Chunari, which lands less like nostalgia and more like “Cringe‑ari Cringe‑ari.” The remake strips away all the original’s infectious energy, and is something that should have remained in the drafts folder.
The other two tracks, Vyah Karwado Ji and Tera Ho Jaoon, evaporate from your memory before the end credits roll.
The Final Shot
Ultimately, Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai was supposed to be David Dhawan’s grand delivery as his last directorial, but it ends up as a mis‑conception. The double‑pregnancy plot tries to deliver twice the laughs, yet falls short despite a few labor‑saving cameos from the veteran cast and a supposedly progressive climax.
If you’re expecting a hit on par with Dhawan’s classic line‑up, this one is a false alarm. It’s better to revisit his classics than sit through a delivery that never quite arrives.
