Happy Bhag Jayegi

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.[lower-alpha 1] 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".[4][5] Rai said he would not interfere with Aziz's creative process and would give him complete freedom as a director.[4] Aziz also wrote the film's dialogue.[6]

Rai had wanted to work with Deol since the completion of their last project

Abhay Deol had previously collaborated with Rai for the 2013 romantic drama Raanjhanaa; the latter was impressed by Deol's performance in that film and expressed his interest in working with him again. Subsequently, Rai offered Deol the role of Bilal Ahmed.[7] 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".[8] 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".[2]

Happy Bhag Jayegi marks the Bollywood debut of Pakistani actor Momal Sheikh, who was cast as Deol's fiancée. The production team approached Sheikh's father Javed Sheikh for a part in the film and sought his help with casting the role of Zoya. After auditioning, the actors suggested by Javed were unsuitable; the team then contacted Momal, who read through the script multiple times before agreeing to work on the production.[9] 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".[2] Jimmy Sheirgill, who was one of the last actors to join the cast, said he was attracted to the film's "novel" concept.[2] Happy Bhag Jayegi also features Kanwaljit Singh, Piyush Mishra, Jagat Rawat, Ayesha Raza Mishra, and Ashu Sharma in supporting roles.[6]

Filming was primarily done in Chandigarh, Punjab

Principal photography for Happy Bhag Jayegi began in September 2015; it took place in Amritsar, Chandigarh, and Mumbai in separate schedules.[10][11] 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.[6][12] 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.[11] Most of the filming was done outdoors and the crew faced difficulties managing the sets at crowded locations such as Amritsar's Inter-state Bus Terminal and at ISBT sector 17 Chandigarh[13]

The filming process for Happy Bhag Jayegi was completed in March 2016.[14] 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 ₹200 million (US$2.8 million). Its final cut runs for 126 minutes. The international distribution rights for Happy Bhag Jayegi were acquired by Eros International.[6] 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".[5]

Happy Bhag Jayegi received a mixed response from film critics.[25] 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.[26] 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".[27] The view was also shared by Rajeev Masand who was appreciative of the film's comic elements in his review for CNN-News18; he wrote that the film is "mostly fun despite its shortcomings, because the humor [was] earned".[28] Writing for the Deccan Chronicle, Rohit Bhatnagar dubbed the production a "perfect family entertainer" and called it Aziz's best work.[29] 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".[30] Both India Today's Suhani Singh and The Hindu's Namrata Joshi also praised the refreshing treatment of relationship between India and Pakistan in the film.[31][32]

Penty's character and performance garnered a largely polarised response from critics

Commentators including Uday Bhatia of Mint and Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express were critical of the film's scattered narrative;[33][34] the latter noted the script's intermittent humour, saying, "despite its occasional throwaway lines, and nice touches, it never comes together".[34] Bhatia also praised the comical aspect, writing that despite the film's silly premise he "still found [him]self laughing".[33] Saibal Chatterjee criticised Aziz's direction in his review for NDTV; he wrote that Aziz did not use the "narrative pieces ... consistently enough to be able to deliver an outright winner". Chatterjee also responded negatively to the change in tone of the narrative in the film's latter half. He was enthusiastic about the film's inoffensive nature, calling it a rarity in comedy films and saying its inoffensiveness "add[s] up to a lot".[35] 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".[36]

The performances of most of the cast were well received by film critics.[25] Penty was variously dubbed as "brimming with potential" and a "misfit".[11][34] Her performance was also a subject of contrasting opinions; Bhatnagar wrote that "she steals the spotlight in every frame" but Singh said she "lacks the thespian skills to uplift the spirited character". Deol, however, was widely praised for his performance in the film, with Ramnath writing, "he superbly brings out Bilal's nuances, steering the character expertly through both the quieter and the laugh-out-loud scenes".[27] He was also described by Firstpost's Anna M. M. Vetticad and Chatterjee as "charamatic" and "the anchor around which [the film] pivots", respectively.[11][35] The supporting cast also received a largely positive response; Fazal was lauded by Singh for his "measured performance" and Sheikh was deemed a "revelation" by Vats.[26][31] Shergill was singled out by Thakur, who described his performance as "a man high on testosterone, low on intelligence, a delightful lowlife".[30]

Happy Bhag Jayegi was released on about 1,000 screens but had a relatively poor opening collection of about ₹23 million (US$320,000). The slow start was attributed to the film's marketing and competition faced from the big-budget productions including Rustom and Mohenjo Daro.[37] The collections grew over the course of the weekend; the film earned ₹38 million (US$530,000) on Saturday and ₹46 million (US$640,000) on Sunday to bring the first-weekend total to ₹107 million (US$1.5 million); the increase in its earnings was credited to positive word of mouth.[38] Collections held steady throughout the week with the film grossing a total of ₹178 million (US$2.5 million). Happy Bhag Jayegi did particularly well in urban areas such as Mumbai and the National Capital Region, where it collected ₹85 million (US$1.2 million) and ₹77 million (US$1.1 million), respectively. Despite a slow start, the film grossed a total of ₹391 million (US$5.5 million) at the domestic box office in its theatrical run and was a considered a sleeper hit by media outlets.[39][40][41][42] Happy Bhag Jayegi earned ₹23.5 million (US$330,000) at the North American box office and about ₹40 million (US$560,000) in the such other international markets as the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. The film has grossed ₹465 million (US$6.5 million) worldwide.[1]