Sab Kushal Mangal

STORY: A local politician and goon Baba Bhandari (Akshaye Khanna) is in the business of forced marriages of grooms. He abducts a young TV journalist for one such association, but ends up falling in love with the same girl. But will the bride-to-be reciprocate?

REVIEW: Welcome to Karnalganj – a town where a small-time politician rules big and makes a living out of fixing marriages forcefully. ‘Sab Kushal Mangal’ tries to serve up comedy in this problematic plot, but it isn’t funny. The film opens with Akshaye Khanna’s dramatic entry sporting a handle-bar moustache and long locks, looking anything but intimidating. The actor who is otherwise impressive with his acting chops tries hard to make his character work in this humdrum script. He fails to impress here.

Newcomers Priyaank Sharma and Riva Kishan are confident but there is barely any chemistry between the two. Priyaank shows some promise with his brooding looks but lacks the gusto required for the role of the firebrand journalist Pappu Mishra, who exposes wrongdoings on his show Musibat Odh Li Maine. Riva Kishan fares much better as Mandira, who speaks her mind, but sadly, her character has no agency when it comes to making important life decisions like marriage.

Talented actors such as Satish Kaushik, Supriya Pathak Kapur and Rakesh Bedi could have been utilised to their full potential. While the first half is erratic, the second half has some conflict, albeit predictable. Some of the scenes involving Akshaye Khanna and his cronies evoke laughter and the overall tone of the film remains light. The music is average and the songs are well shot, but most of them are untimely placed. This further makes the already long runtime of the film seem like a drag. The background score is too loud and jarring. The film’s narrative makes half-hearted attempts at underlining social ills like forced marriages and dowry, but never really takes a solid stand.

What works against the film is not its story but the execution that suffers from weak writing and missed opportunities for an impactful social satire.