Fukrey Returns movie review: Worth a watch?

The film stays true to its first outing, and has enough one-liners to keep you delighted

Have you not watched Fukrey but heard about it? Have you watched Fukrey and loved the oddball comedy? Either way, if you watch Fukrey Returns do yourself a favour: Don't expect 'freshness.'
After all, sequels are meant to be organic evolutions of their predecessor and they lack the surprise factor because by now everyone is familiar with the characters and know exactly what to expect out of them.
The characters in Fukrey Returns continue to be true to the selves you saw in Fukrey. One year from where they left us, Choocha (Varun Sharma) continues to dream, and Hunny (Pulkit Samrat) continues to interpret them to make money. Zafar (Ali Fazal) is finding his voice in the music industry and Lali (Manjot Singh) is still a slacker. Bholi Punjaban (Richa Chadha) is cooling her heels in jail.
As progressions go, Choocha now day-dreams too; he gets 'premonitions' that come true - and Hunny, always loyal to his friend, convinces the rest of the gang that there lies a treasure beyond a cave guarded by a tiger. So, we have a tiger, a cub, a cobra, and the tunnel. What lies at the end of it? Will the foursome finally find redemption? Will Choocha find love in Bholi, and will he stop dreaming?
In addition to answering that, Fukrey Returns gives you two power-packed actors - Rajiv Gupta as the wily politician Babulal Bhatia and Pankaj Tripathi as Pandit, with the best one-liners and the finest dead-pan you would see in recent times.  As much as you like Varun for his Choocha act and Pulkit for his effortless ease, it is Tripathi, who will stay in your mind after Fukrey Returns, because whenever he bursts into the scene - always last - he leaves it with the last laugh.
Richa Chadha too has a lengthier role, and with her dialogue delivery and mannerisms, she proves that she can be a match for Kangana Ranaut. Though Ali Fazal and Manjot Singh get reduced screen time, the character sketches they defined in the original continue to hold true.
Fukrey Returns has laugh-a-minute lines and fantastic performances, but where it dips is not because of a lack of freshness. For a film that ought to have been breezier than the original, the sequel becomes a bit of a stretch. At 160 minutes, the film reveals its vacuous inner core; the flimsy thread that held together the original is not as punchy in the second, and the treasure-hunt adventure seems to drag on and on with little hilarious surprises in store.
Fukrey worked for its irreverence; it had no point to prove; it only had four unassuming young men out having fun. Fukrey Returns, for no reason, tries to sermonise; it wants to give a sense of purpose to the four men, and even a certain halo of having 'come of age.' That kills the spirit of 'Fukrey.' There is no sense of 'jugaad' (home-innovation) in that either.
But that should not dampen your spirit of watching the film, which comes with little pretensions. The abundance of one-liners is enough to cover up for the occasionally 'lag' you feel, and what the heck, you get what you ask for - two plus hours of mindless entertainment.
Fukrey Returns
Starring: Varun Sharma, Pulkit Samrat and Richa Chadda
Directed by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba
Rating: 2.5/5
Now playing at theatres in the UAE