Dream Girl (2019 film)

Dream Girl is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Raaj Shaandilyaa in his directorial debut and produced by Ekta Kapoor. The film focuses on a cross-gender actor (played by Ayushmann Khurrana) whose female voice impersonation begets attention from others, and talks about depression and loneliness. It also stars Nushrat Bharucha, Annu Kapoor, Manjot Singh, Vijay Raaz and Abhishek Banerjee.

Initially supposed to be titled Googly, it was renamed Dream Girl. The film was released on 13 September 2019 to a surprise blockbuster response and entered the 100 Crore Club. It was a commercial blockbuster, grossing around ₹148 crore net in India and over inr 2000000000 worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2019.

In August 2022, a spiritual sequel titled Dream Girl 2 entered production, and it was released in August 2023. It stars an ensemble cast of Ayushmann Khurrana, Ananya Panday, Annu Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Asrani, Rajpal Yadav, Vijay Raaz, Manjot Singh, Abhishek Banerjee and Seema Pahwa.

Plot
Karam (Aayushman Khurana), known for his prowess in playing female characters in theatrical productions due to his adept ability to imitate a female voice, is in search of employment. His quest leads him to respond to a job advertisement promising a monthly salary of 70,000. During the interview with Mauji, he faces rejection but is intrigued when shown a call center where exclusively female operators work as fantasy entertainers.

Karam answers as a call under the persona of "Pooja," showcasing his exceptional skill. Impressed, Mauji decides to hire him. As Karam assumes his role, the business experiences a rapid upswing, garnering admiration from various individuals, including Toto, Rajpal (a cop), Roma, and his brother-in-law, Mahinder.

Amidst the success, Karam grapples with the impending revelation of his unconventional job to his lover, Mahi. The plot takes an emotional turn as Karam contemplates how Mahi will react to his secret profession. Complicating matters further, he discovers that his own father, Jagjit Singh, is one of his unsuspecting admirers, adding a layer of irony and complexity to the narrative.

In the denouement of "Dream Girl," the narrative reaches a turning point when Karam's web of impersonation begins to unravel. As his admirers, including Toto, Rajpal, Roma, and Mahinder, discover the truth about Pooja's real identity, a series of comedic and heartfelt confrontations ensue.

The revelation tests Karam's relationships, especially with Mahi, who grapples with the unexpected revelation.

Ultimately, the story concludes with Karam facing the consequences of his dual life, leading to a resolution that intertwines the comedic elements with moments of introspection and self-discovery.

Cast

 * Ayushmann Khurrana as Karamveer "Karam" Singh / Pooja: Jagjeet's son; Mahi's boyfriend-turned husband
 * Nushrratt Bharuccha as Mahi Singh (née Rajput): Karam's girlfriend-turned wife
 * Annu Kapoor as Jagjit Singh (Karam's father) / Rahul / Mehendi Haasan
 * Manjot Singh as Smiley Singh Dhillon / Ismail: Karam's best friend
 * Rajesh Sharma as Mauji a.k.a. Wji
 * Vijay Raaz as Rajpal Kirar: a policeman
 * Abhishek Banerjee as Mahinder Rajput (Mahi’s brother) / Rafi
 * Raj Bhansali as Chintu "Toto" Gujjar
 * Neha Saraf as Chandrakanta Kirar: Rajpal's wife
 * Vedika Bhandari as Pooja: the original call center employee who was replaced with Karam by Wji
 * Nidhi Bisht as Roma Gupta
 * Neela Mulherkar as Dadi, Mahi’s grandmother
 * Riteish Deshmukh in song "Dhagala Lagali" (special appearance)

Production
In November 2018, Ayushman Khurrana announced Dream Girl to be written and directed by Raaj Shaandilyaa and produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor and Aashish Singh. Nushrratt Bharuccha was cast opposite him. The lead character will have three accents in the film. Ahmed Khan is choreographing the dances with Khurrana in sari.

Principal photography began in December 2018. Bharucha completed her part of filming in January 2019 in Mumbai.

Release
The film was released theatrically on 13 September 2019. ZEE5 acquired digital rights and launched it online on 21 November 2019.

Critical response
Dream Girl received mixed response from critics, who criticised the "empty" and "jumbled-up" writing as well as the "tasteless" and "stale" humour, but praised the performances of the supporting cast. The film holds an approval rating of based on  reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of.

Charu Thakur of India Today gave the film three stars out of five, noted that Dream Girl was an out-and-out comedy with witty one-liners and jokes, which made it a long comic skit sans a storyline. She concurred with Taran in praising performance of Khurrana and Kapoor. Criticising director for losing subject of the film she concluded, "However, his [Shaandilyaa's] hesitation to delve deeper into the subject makes it score less on the report card. If you are looking for a light-hearted comedy this weekend, [this film] should definitely be on your list."

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave two stars out of five and felt the film was had many good ideas but those were not executed, stating, ".... these ideas remain half-baked, being mouthed strictly as meaningless dialogue for either laughs or claps". Praising Khurana for his performance, she concluded, "You stay watching Dream Girl for Khurrana. He plays Karam/Pooja with grace and conviction, and makes this thing sing." Priyanka Sinha Jha of News18, praising Khurrana and ensemble of Manjot Singh, Vijay Raaz, Annu Kapoor, Abhishek Banerjee, Nushrat Bharucha, Rajesh Sharma, Nidhi Bisht and Raj Bhansali for their performances, rates the film with three and half stars out of five. Agreeing with Gupta, she noted that the second half did suffer from lack of ingenuity. Praising writer-director Raaj Shaandilyaa for 'keeping the screenplay pithy, the dialogues glib and story on the tracks, she opined, "Dream Girl will surely entertain the film going audiences while sparking off an important conversation on gender constructs in Indian cinema." Writing for Film Companion, Baradwaj Rangan said "These are one-joke characters, and this is a one-joke movie. Very quickly, a sense of staleness sets in."

Box office
Dream Girl has the opening day collection of ₹10.05 crore, and second day collection of ₹16.42 crore, whereas the third day collection was ₹18.10 crore, taking its total opening weekend collection to ₹44.57 crore in India. On the fourth day the film crossed ₹50 crore and became Khurrana's fastest film to cross ₹50 crore until his next release, Bala. The film has become the eleventh highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2019.

, with a gross of ₹169.36 crore in India and ₹31.44 crore overseas, the film has grossed ₹200.80 crore worldwide.

Soundtrack
The music of the film is composed by Meet Bros while lyrics are by Kumaar and Shabbir Ahmed. The song "Dhagala Lagali" was removed due to a copyright issue. All soundtracks listed below have their lyrics credited solely to Kumaar unless noted otherwise: