Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai review: Varun Dhawan & Co. deliver laughs in this flawed, and at times, fun entertainer

Hai Jawani Toh... proudly wears its nonsense on its sleeve. Yet, even by the standards of a David Dhawan comedy, the first half gets off to a dull start. The jokes rarely land, and there was an eerie silence in our theatre as almost nothing clicked, not the music or comedy, not even the infectious energy that one expects from this genre.

The interval point, however, offers a glimmer of hope. As the second half embraces the chaos and settles into its own rhythm, Hai Jawani Toh... gradually finds it's footing. Several gags and one-liners hit the mark. While the humour is naughty and loaded with double entendres, it doesn't slip into crass territory.

Some of Farhad Samji's (writer) dialogues are delivered with such conviction that they manage to draw genuine chuckles. Sample this: when Mouni Roy shows up posing as his fake mother, an exasperated Varun quips, "Maa maangi thi Nirupa Roy jaisi, tune Mouni Roy jaisi bhej di!" On paper, it's a fairly ordinary joke, but the meta-nature of it, clicks.