Dream Girl 2

Dream Girl 2 is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film directed by Raaj Shaandilyaa and produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor under Balaji Motion Pictures. A spiritual sequel to the 2019 film Dream Girl, the film stars Ayushmann Khurrana, alongside an ensemble supporting cast, including Ananya Panday, Paresh Rawal, Annu Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav, Vijay Raaz, Asrani, Abhishek Banerjee, Manjot Singh and Seema Pahwa. The film is about a man who cross-dresses and disguises as a woman, leading to a lot of chaos and confusion.

Principal photography began in August 2022 and ended in March 2023. It was released theatrically on 25 August 2023. The film received mixed reviews from critics. It was a commercial success, grossing ₹140 crore worldwide, emerging as the eleventh-highest grossing Hindi film of 2023.

Plot
Karamveer "Karam" Singh is a young middle-class man living in Mathura and works as a Jagrata performer. He has a special talent of perfectly impersonating a female voice. His father Jagjit Singh is in huge debts after borrowing multiple loans and is unable to repay them. He is in a relationship with Pari Srivastava, a lawyer from a wealthy family. Pari's father Jaipal Srivastava says that he will have Pari marry Karam only if he is able to land a high paying job and buy a house of his own, within six months. In order to earn quick money, Karam disguises as a woman going by the alias "Pooja" and becomes a dancer at a bar owned by Sona Bhai. Pari remains unaware of this.

Karam's best friend Smiley Singh Dhillon is in love with Sakina, the daughter of the hostile Abu Saleem. Abu says that he will have Sakina marry only after his son Shah Rukh Saleem is married. Shah Rukh is in depression ever since he had a breakup with his lover six months ago. Abu says that he will give a reward of Rs.10 lakhs to the person who manages to get Shah Rukh out of depression. Smiley requests Karam to pose as "Pooja" and pretend to be a psychiatrist for treating Shah Rukh.

Karam as "Pooja" manages to cheer Shah Rukh up. Abu is overjoyed and says that he wants "Pooja" to be Shah Rukh's bride and Yusuf Ali Salim Khan, Shah Rukh's wheelchair-bound grandfather says that he will pay "Pooja" Rs. 50 lakhs for her marriage to Shah Rukh. Karam, seeing the opportunity to receive the money, decides to proceed with the wedding, and abscond later. On the first night after the wedding, Yusuf sees "Pooja" urinating like a man and dies of shock.

Abu says that as per their family tradition, when someone from the family dies, no family member can marry for the next six months, meaning Smiley cannot marry Sakina. Moreover, before dying Yusuf had written a message on the wall which read - "Daughter-in-law boy". Everyone assumes that he wanted "Pooja" to give birth to a baby boy as a last wish, putting the pressure on "Pooja" to get pregnant, which would practically be impossible.

As "Pooja" cannot go to the bar to dance regularly anymore, Sona Bhai keeps calling her and asking her to come back to work. He also says that he wants to marry her, so that post his divorce, his children do not feel the absence of a mother. Abu's adopted son Shaukya is also attracted to "Pooja" and keeps flirting with her and trying to impress her. Meanwhile, Abu misunderstands that Karam is actually "Pooja"'s brother. Abu's sister Jumani is attracted to Karam and comes to Jagjit to propose her marriage with Karam. Jagjit, who is attracted to her, misunderstands that she is talking about her marriage with himself. He later realises the truth when he goes on to exchange engagement rings with Jumani, and she clears his confusion.

One night, while in the bedroom with Shah Rukh, "Pooja"'s wig comes off revealing Karam's facade. Shah Rukh is shocked and reveals that he is actually gay and Abu forcefully had him break up with his boyfriend so that he can marry a girl instead. Shah Rukh keeps Karam's facade a secret from his family. Sometime later, Jumani asks Karam out on a date and proposes to him with a rose. Pari who happens to be there coincidentally, misunderstands that Karam is cheating on her with Jumani and breaks up with him.

As "Pooja" cannot get pregnant, Abu takes her to Baby Baba, a spiritual guru who can miraculously get women to become pregnant. He asks "Pooja" and Shah Rukh to take a dip in the holy Yamuna river. While doing so, "Pooja" escapes, making everyone believe that she has died by drowning and a memorial service is held for her.

Karam learns that Pari will marry another man and rushes to the wedding ceremony. He performs a dance as "Pooja", making Pari realise the truth. Karam talks about all the hardships he faced out of his love for Pari and to marry to her. Everyone else also arrives there and all the confusion is cleared. Karam confronts Jaipal about his classist mentality and he realises his mistake and has Karam and Pari marry in a grand ceremony.

Music
The music of the film is composed by Meet Bros, Tanishk Bagchi and Arko while background score is composed by Hitesh Sonik. The first single titled "Dil Ka Telephone 2.0" was released on 10 August 2023. The second single titled "Naach" was released on 16 August 2023. The third single titled "Jamnapaar" was released on 21 August 2023.

Release
In September 2022, it was announced that the film was scheduled to release in theatres on 29 June 2023, which was later preponed by a week to 23 June 2023. Later the release date was changed to 7 July 2023. On 24 April 2023, the film got a new release date which is 25 August 2023.

Home media
The film was premiered on Netflix from 20 October 2023.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Dream Girl 2 received a rating of 8% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10.

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama awarded the film 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Dream Girl 2 works due to the plot, extremely funny scenes, commercial treatment, and performances."

Dhaval Roy of The Times of India gave the film 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Box office
As of 5 October 2023, the film had grossed inr 1248800000 in India, with a further inr 156800000 in overseas, for a worldwide total of inr 1405600000.