Wild Wild Punjab

Wild Wild Punjab is a 2024 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Simarpreet Singh. Produced by T-Series Films and Luv Films, the film stars Varun Sharma, Jassie Gill, Sunny Singh, Manjot Singh, Patralekha Paul and Ishita Raj Sharma. It was released on Netflix on 10 July 2024.

Plot
Gaurav Jain the only son, is always scared of his abusive father. He is engaged with a girl named Tara and against his wishes his father demands a dowry of 5 million, half of which is received on his engagement. His friend Arora is a boxer and a playboy. They assemble at a restaurant to find their friend Khanna in a suicidal state because his girlfriend Vaishali has cheated on him and is about to marry her boss in the next 2 days. Somehow they convince him to party at a 5-star hotel to get over his grief, but they don't have a car amongst the 3 of them.

Just then another of their friend Honey Singh (Manjot Singh) arrives in his expensive SUV which he has named Paro. Honey owns a fleet of 50 trucks and has a benevolent personality. Although the 3 of them are not on friendly terms with Honey, they invite him to their table because of his car. Honey proposes that to get over his grief Khanna should say "I am over you" on her face right at her wedding. Everyone agrees to the plan and sets for Pathankot where the wedding venue is just 4 hour's drive. However, Khanna has an urge to drink alcohol and since it is late in the night there is no place where they can buy alcohol. On the way they see a wedding and decide to gatecrash it. All 4 of them have a great time and drink to the point of losing their senses.

The next day morning when everyone wakes up they find that they are still at the wedding venue. The bride's brother addresses Gaurav as brother-in-law. No one has a clue what happened the other night. The brother-in-law of Gaurav narrates the event where Gaurav berates the Groom's father for holding up the marriage for dowry and the groom's family leaves. The bride's mother is distraught and questions who will marry her daughter to which Gaurav answers that "son of Jain will not take dowry" and marries Radha who is the bride. This one incident makes him a hero in the eyes of the village and they assemble at the house to give the couple a nice send-off. Scared of his father's threat to marry Tara, Gaurav attempts to run away however he cannot do that in the presence of the crowd assembled outside. Honey and Arora try to reason with Radha's father but he threatens to commit suicide. Everyone comes to terms with the situation and decides to take Radha with them. Honey gets the shock of his life when he sees that Paro is decorated with flowers however, he calms himself.

Later Gaurav tries to abandon Radha at a temple and they are on their way to Pathankot however, Honey's conscience awakens and he tells Gaurav that this is not what his father has taught him in life. They return to pick up Radha who has no idea what happened in between. On their way, Radha gets to know of Khanna's situation and sympathises with him. She suggests that his confrontation with Vaishali would be effective only if he tags along with a nice girl who can pretend to be his girlfriend. They then go to Punjab University to ask her friend Palak but since she is busy they take Meera who is a street drug seller on the condition that they first visit her drug dealer whom she has to hand over pills. However, no one has any idea about her motive or her profession.

On the way they encounter, Honey has a scuffle with a cop and after a chaotic chase, everyone lands in jail. When all attempts to get out of jail fail Honey gulps down his pride apologizes to the cop for his behaviour and requests him to release the rest of his friends. Everyone is moved by his gesture and the cop agrees to his request. Later the cop gets a call from the senior and asks him to report to a riot with all his force however, that is a prank played by Arora and they come back to rescue Honey.

When they reach the drug dealer's place, Meera has a stand-off over the compensation and she escapes with money and the drugs. There is a gun chase between the two parties and somehow Honey and his team manage to outrun the drug dealers but Khanna is struck by a bullet on his bum. Late at night, they land in a veterinary hospital and the doctor successfully operates on Khanna. As they are about to leave the gangsters catch up with them however, Meera manages to escape in Honey's car Paro. They abduct Radha and demand to present Meera within an hour with the drug pills and money. Honey through his fleet is able to track and bring back Meera however, during the exchange Aurora who wants to save Meera creates a mess. As the gangsters are about to kill everyone, Gaurav makes a dramatic entry and saves everyone. There is a chase that ultimately leads to the wedding venue of Vaishali. Vaishali is angry when she confronts Khanna however, when she finds her would-be husband cheating on her she realises her mistake and hugs Khanna.

Khanna can overcome his emotions "I am over you" to Vaishali. Meanwhile, the cop who had been arrested earlier arrives on time at the venue just in the nick of time to arrest the gangster and pardons Honey to whom he says that a promotion in a job is bigger than personal ego.

As they are about to return Honey receives another call from his wife and he mentions 4th stage cancer. When everyone asks him what happened he replies nothing serious. To which everyone compels him to share the matter with them as they feel obliged to repay his kindness. He replies that a character in the TV soap that he watches with his wife is having a medical emergency which his wife uses to update him daily.

Cast

 * Varun Sharma as Rajesh Khanna
 * Sunny Singh as Maan Arora
 * Manjot Singh as Honey Singh
 * Jassie Gill as Gaurav Jain
 * Patralekha Paul as Radha
 * Ishita Raj Sharma as Meera
 * Rajesh Sharma as SHO Avtar Singh, Rupnagar
 * Asheema Vardaan as Vaishali
 * Subha Rajput as Tara
 * Gopal Datt as Gaurav's father
 * Samuel John as Daljeet
 * Anjum Batra as Dalbir
 * Rose Sardana as Ginni
 * Ashok Pathak as Doctor

Production
The film was announced in February 2024. The teaser of the movie released on 29 February 2024.

Music
The soundtrack is composed by Guru Randhawa, Luv Ranjan, Bali and Saurabh-Vaibhav while the background score is done by Hitesh Sonik. Lyrics is written by Guru Randhawa, Happy Bains, Luv Ranjan, Bali, Harsh Tyagi and Saurabh-Vaibhav.

Reception
Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film 1.5/5 stars, writing, "This Fukrey lite is a load of jaded tiresomeness; Punjab deserves better." Vineeta Kumar of India Today awarded the film 2/5 stars, writing, "The bigger problem is not how the film treats its women, but how it doesn't see any man as a grown-up. It is funny in parts if you have the appetite for those kinds of jokes, but at best, it looks like a dull celebration of empty-headed men." Deepa Gahlot of Rediff.com rated the film 2.5/5 stars. Shilajit Mitra for The Hindu wrote, "Wild Wild Punjab runs low on horsepower and horseplay. Simarpreet, a debutant director, struggles to choreograph the levels of comedic chaos he clearly aspires to."

Monika Rawal Kukreja from Hindustan Times gave a positive review, writing, "Wild Wild Punjab, staying true to its title and genre, has several moments that are outright hilarious and you don't even feel like questing the whys and hows."