Filmmaker Luv Ranjan has launched quite a few actors, most notable among them being Kartik Aaryan. He casts them repeatedly and few of them have hit the bullseye at the box office as well. He turned producer with the 2018 super-hit flick, SONU KE TITU KI SWEETY, also directed by him. He had another hit film in 2019 in the form of DE DE PYAAR DE. In 2020, his banner Luv Films will be releasing as many as 3 films, and the first one to come out is JAI MUMMY DI. It is a long-delayed film but looks fresh and has the Delhi flavour in abundance, which gives it a chance to excel in North India. So does JAI MUMMY DI manage to be as entertaining as other Luv Ranjan films? Or does it fail to entice? Let’s analyse.

Movie Review: Jai Mummy Di

JAI MUMMY DI is the story of two lovers whose mothers are sworn enemies of each other. Delhi-based engineering students, Puneet Khanna (Sunny Singh) and Saanjh Bhalla (Sonnalli Seygall), are in love with each other. Saanjh proposes to Puneet but the latter declines. He too wants to settle down with Saanjh but is afraid of his mother. That’s because Puneet’s mother Laali (Supriya Pathak) and Saanjh’s mother Pinky (Poonam Dhillon) hate each other a lot. Interestingly, they were the best of friends at one point and moreover, they reside next to each other. But they can’t stand each other’s sight. And Puneet is too scared to break the news that he’s in love with the daughter of her ‘enemy’. In anger, Saanjh breaks up with Puneet. She starts looking for suitable groom for marriage and even approves of Dev (Bhuvan Arora). Their marriage is fixed for October 16 at Diamond Hall in Noida. When Puneet’s mother Laali finds out that Pinky has managed to lock her daughter’s wedding, she feels jealous. Not wanting to be left behind, she quickly selects a girl for Puneet, Sakshi. What’s more, Puneet and Sakshi’s marriage is also set on October 16 and that too in Diamond. Meanwhile, Puneet and Saanjh realize that they won’t be able to stay happy with anyone else but each other. Hence, they patch up and think of ways to bring their respective mothers together. When nothing works, they decide to elope and get married. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

Navjot Gulati’s story rests on waferthin plot. But it’s a great idea and could have made for a fine entertainer. But Navjot Gulati’s screenplay plays spoilsport in a major way. The film is laced with poorly written sequences and not-so-funny moments. Also, the flow of scenes is not smooth. Navjot Gulati’s dialogues also add to the negative impact. Barring a few one-liners, the rest of it doesn’t have the desired impact.

Navjot Gulati’s direction is terrible. With the script, he already made a mess, but he could have covered it up with his direction. Sadly, even his execution is very bad. The film never goes on a high or goes into the funny zone, which it ideally should have. And it’s really fortunate since the concept had the promise to go all out. And the climax sadly is very thanda as one expects some major confrontation and eventual patch up. The worst is reserved for the very final scene and it totally takes the film down.

JAI MUMMY DI begins on a very awkward note, to explain the enmity between the two women. The scene may have looked interesting on paper but translates poorly on screen. The song ‘Mummy Nu Pasand’ ups the interest but it goes downhill in no time. A few scenes are bewildering. For instance, why Pinky also follows suit and shifts to Ghaziabad, that too next to Laali’s residence. The humour quotient in the film is very less and half of whatever is there doesn’t work. Ideally, any other worthy director or writer would have shown the lovers going to insane lengths to bring their mothers together and how it causes madness in the process. Here, the lovebirds hardly do anything of that sort. The intermission point tries to be dramatic but doesn’t work. Post-interval, the film keeps getting repetitive and it tests the patience of the viewers. This is despite the 105 minutes of runtime. One can’t just wait for the mothers to find out the truth and patch up. Finally, it happens in the end but ideally, it should have taken the film to a high. But nothing of that sort happens. The most disappointing bit of the film however is the reason why Laali and Pinky started fighting in the first place.

PAISA VASOOL: Sunny Singh Nijjar v/s Sonnalli Seygall – Bollywood ‘ROM-COM’ Quiz | Jai Mummy Di

Talking of performances, Sunny Singh suits the part. His acting is nothing great but he manages to pull through the role nicely. Sonnalli Seygall gets to show her acting chops. In PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA 2 [2015], she got overshadowed by other actors. But here, the focus is majorly on her, especially in the first half, and she does fine. Supriya Pathak and Poonam Dhillon are strictly okay. Shockingly, the film ideally should have revolved around them but they don’t get the screen space that they deserve. Rajendra Sethi (Trilochan Khanna) and Danish Husain (Gurpal Bhalla) are nothing great. Veer Rajwant Singh (Vineet) is however good as Puneet’s brother. Alok Nath (Sanjog Luthra) is wasted. It’s bewildering why he was even there in the film. Bhuvan Arora is the funniest part of the film. The actor playing Sakhi is passable. Neeraj Sood (Jasbir Bhullar) is good as always. Nushrat Bharucha, Ishita Raj and Varun Sharma do well but their cameos come at a time when the viewers are tired of the film already.

Songs are forgettable, except ‘Mummy Nu Pasand’, which is catchy. ‘Manney Ignore Kar Rahi’ comes immediately after this track and doesn’t work. ‘Dariyaganj’, ‘Ishq Da Band’ and the title track also don’t manage to register. ‘Lamborghini’ is played in the end credits. Hitesh Sonik’s background score is entertaining but it doesn’t complement the scenes.

Sanket Shah’s cinematography and Tarpan Shrivastava’s production design are appropriate. Jia Bhagia, Arun J Chauhan and Mallika Chauhan’s costumes are appealing, especially the ones worn by the lead actors in the various marriage scenes of the film. Dev Rao Jadhav and Chetan M Solanki’s editing is haphazard at places and is not organic.

On the whole, JAI MUMMY DI is a poor fare owing to the weak script, lazy direction and lack of humour. At the box office, it won’t have a long run and just has this one week window to score.