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Son of Sardaar 2 is a reminder that audiences have grown up, Bollywood hasn’t
The real punchline of Son of Sardaar 2 isn’t in its jokes, but in how little it respects the audience’s evolution.
Son of Sardaar 2: Audience won't laugh at just anything anymore. (Photo: Devgn Films/Instagram)
Watching Son of Sardaar (2012) today feels like opening a time capsule to an era when audiences didn’t question much, and comedy was often reduced to tripping over pickle oil or running into slapstick mehman nawazi. Back then, the Ajay Devgn–Sonakshi Sinha starrer, made on a reported budget of ₹40 crore, raked in over ₹140 crore worldwide. It even had a Salman Khan cameo and was considered a “superhit.” But looking back, it’s hard to ignore that its “humour” was built on a wafer-thin plot and recycled gags.
Riding on that misplaced confidence, the makers have returned after more than a decade with Son of Sardaar 2—only this time, the pandemic has changed the game. Audiences have grown sharper and far less forgiving. And judging by the box office struggle of this sequel, people are no longer willing to waste time or money on a weak, outdated script. In 7 days, the film reportedly made on a budget of Rs 150 crore, has earned Rs 32 crore.
The sequel sets up Rabia (Mrunal Thakur), Saba (Roshni Walia), Mehwish (Kubra Sait), and Gul (Deepak Dobriyal) as Pakistanis. Ravi Kishan, replacing Sanjay Dutt due to visa issues, plays a UK citizen Raja who is fiercely Indian at heart, and has a soft corner for tales of Indian soldiers “teaching a lesson” to Pakistanis. Mistaking Ajay Devgn for a soldier, he fixes his son Goggi’s (Sahil Mehta) marriage to Jassi’s (Ajay Devgn) fake daughter Saba.
From the rishta-fixing day to the wedding, Raja, Tittu (Vindu Dara Singh), and Tony (the late Mukul Dev) “test” Jassi’s soldier skills—asking him to shoot bottles, operate a tank, and endure random mishaps. These set pieces are intended as comedy, but not a single scene manages to draw a genuine laugh. In fact, it made a family of six simply walk out of the theater. Not surprised.
Ravi Kishan, known for his charm and comic timing, delivers lines like “tits for ticks” and boasts, “Maine 5 bhed se 15 lakh bhed kiye hai,” explaining his wealth. Even he cannot save the painfully bad writing by Jagdeep Singh Sindhu and Mohit Jain .
Sanjay Mishra’s character Bantu Pandey’s transformation from hotel manager (in the first film) to milk vendor and lover of Ravi Kishan’s wife, Premlata (Ashwini Kalsekar), makes no narrative sense. Chunky Panday’s arc is equally bizarre—married to Rabia’s sister, then to Rabia herself, and then abandoning her for a Russian woman, only to reappear for a few minutes at the end and be ridiculed for being Pakistani.
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Neeru Bajwa pops in at the start demanding a divorce, only to return at the climax to apologise—just in time for a random chandelier (or jhumar) to crash on her head, prompting audiences to mutter, “Kuch bhi ho raha hai!”
The film’s humour mostly comes from watching talented actors like Ravi Kishan and Sanjay Mishra react to absurd situations rather than the situations themselves. Sharat Saxena, for example, loses his third wife in a pole-dance accident and quickly introduces a new girlfriend to his sons without skipping a beat. While the sequence makes no sense, Ravi Kishan’s reaction does.
The absurdity peaks with a cameo from Rohit Shetty, who appears after Ajay accidentally blows up his jeep in a residential UK neighbourhood, without any police or neighbourly interference. Shetty uses the moment to announce Golmaal 5, and the film wraps up as if that were the highlight.
Son of Sardaar 2 isn’t just a weak sequel—it’s a reminder that audience sensibilities have evolved. What passed for comedy in 2012 now feels lazy, outdated, and painfully forced. Despite Ravi Kishan, Sanjay Mishra, and other seasoned actors doing their best, the film is dragged down by an incoherent plot, cringe-worthy jokes, and random events stitched together in the name of entertainment.
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If the first film proved people could laugh at anything, the second proves they won’t laugh at just anything anymore.
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