Billed as an out-and-out romantic comedy, Mere Dad Ki Maruti (MDKM) has its moments of highs and lows. The plot revolves a brand new Maruti Ertiga model intended as wedding present that gets stolen and the multi layered web of lies formed for the cover up. Set with a backdrop of a typically lavish Punjabi wedding, the comic flick is vibrant, funny, colourful, loud and charming, besides being emotional at times as well.
The story goes like, Tej Khullar played by Ram Kapoor, a father totally obsessed with his daughter Tanvi's marriage, buys a Maruti car for his would be son-in-law Raj, which is to be presented on their wedding day. Later, Tej's son Sameer (played by Saquib Saleem) comes into the picture as the 'boy-next-door' college kid with a whimsical grip on English. Further, Sameer has a crush on Jazzleen (newcomer Rhea Chakraborty), who is in the same college as his. Accordingly, in a desperate effort to woo Jazzleen, Sameer takes her on a date by stealing his dad's newly purchased Maruti Ertiga model.
The things were going as planned till in an absolute comedy of errors, Sameer ends up losing his dad's Ertiga. All hell breaks loose with Sameer and his dopey friend Gattu (played by Prabal Punjabi) create a complex web of stories and lies, in order to escape the wrath of Tej. The Khullar household goes bonkers and the situational humour is sometimes blown completely out of proportion, which helps the movie gain speed on a number of occasions.
Being a classic Yashraj movie, there is a lot of singing and dancing in the MDKM, with a number of catchy tunes like 'Main Senti Hun' that has Sameer dancing with Jazzleen in a discotheque. Further, Yo Yo Honey Singh crooning 'Punjabiyan di Battery' is another popular track played in the movie, which effortlessly portrays the typically loud Punjabi celebration with singing and dancing being the cherry on cake.
The performances are decent if not exemplary. However, it is not the level of acting that works out in MDKM's favour, but the situational humour that has been nicely incorporated in the movie. Ram Kapoor is brilliant as the hyper active father, whereas Saquib does justice to his boy-next-door character as well. Rhea Chakraborty looks fresh and easy on screen as Jazzleen, while Prabal Punjabi effortlessly steals the limelight in each of his scene as the cute and whimsical Gattu.
Among the best scenes of the MDKM, the one where Tanvi breaks loose with an outrageous dance number on her Sangeet night definitely tops the list. Further, while on a romantic evening date with Jazzleen, Sameer tries to woo her by doing a 360 degree burnout on his dad's Maruti, which seemed done quite over the top. For instance, Sameer was out of the car during most parts of the scene and drifted the Ertiga like the way super bike riders do the hanging out stunts. MDKM's climax might remind one of that of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, but in terms of overall entertainment the movie delivers. Our rating of Mere Dad Ki Maruti has to be a modest- 3 out of 5 stars.
