When Happy Bhag Jayegi came out in 2016, it was a pleasant surprise and was successful in making us laugh. It was also a decent success at the box office. Now arrives the sequel, Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi, two years later with the same director, Mudassar Aziz. Sonakshi Sinha plays the lead, with Diana Penty, Jimmy Sheirgill, Piyush Mishra and Ali Fazal returning for the sequel. Our in-house critic Sreeju Sudhakaran is watching the movie and here's what his opinion is of the first half.

"Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi is a comedy of errors that begins two Happy's arriving in China at the same time. They get mistaken for each other. The Happy from the first film was to be kidnapped by a Chinese mobster. Instead, Sonakshi Sinha's Happy who came to China to teach horticulture, gets kidnapped. Not just her, even Bagga and Afridi also gets abducted from their respective countries. Amidst all the brouhaha, Jassie Gill's embassy worker, Khushi, is also caught in the melee.

The humour was the USP of the first film, and the sequel too harps on that. You will laugh out loud in any scene Jimmy Sheirgill and Piyush Mishra are in. Sonakshi is wonderful and Jassie Gill is confident. The first half even if nonsensical plotwise breezes through thanks to the jokes. Though we have to add that they could have avoided the racist tropes. Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi Song Chin Chin Chu: Sonakshi Sinha is Fun to Watch in This Recreated Yesteryear Hit with a Punjabi Tadka - Watch Video

The interval comes when a character is revealed to be the lynchpin of the mob. So expecting more jokes and laughs in the second half.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 23, 2018 08:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).