Hindi
Guest Iin London….Forced comedy
Guest Iin London is a kind of unofficial sequel to the director Ashwani Dhir’s own 2010 film, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge? Paresh Rawal played the uninvited guest in Ajay Devgn house in that film. Paresh Rawal is the common factor as the guest in Guest In London. His hosts have changed, though.
The character of Kartik Aaryan works in London and is at the mercy of his maniacal boss because if he loses his job, his visa would be cancelled, too. Kartik can’t afford this situation because he plans to settle and make a career here. He finds a solution which many Asians are known to use to get permanent visa and that is to marry a local girl.
It seems there are intermediaries too to fix such temporary marriages. Using the services of one such, Kartik decides to marry the character of Kriti Kharbanda whose bio data has the unique distinction of having two fathers and two mothers! Ergo, she has never known true family love. For sums agreed upon, Kriti agrees to marry Kartik for a period of six months till he gets his visa.
The authorities in the UK seem to be aware of such visa weddings so Kartik and Kriti have to present themselves in a magistrate’s court to attest that theirs is not one such arrangement. At the court, one who sees through their ploy is the character of Sanjay Mishra, a Pakistani court clerk. The wedding is to take place after 10 days. Meanwhile, Mishra turns out to be the next door neighbour of Kartik and he takes it upon himself to spy on the couple to catch their lie.
That is when the guests, Paresh Rawal and the character of Tanvi Azmi, come into the couple’s lives. Somehow, the guests drop in at Kartik’s office on the basis that they are the neighbours of one of his uncles! They end up forcing hospitality on the couple since Kriti has also moved in.
Initially, Kriti and Kartik find the guests useful to make their marriage pact look legit. For their selfish cause, they let the guests take over the reins of the house. Every day is a party as Paresh and Tanvi inculcate the great Indian values into the couple and the mainly their subcontinent neighbours.
By this time, Kriti feels like she belongs and that she has a family now. She has fallen in love with Kartik and wants their wedding to be for real. That having been achieved since both love each other, the equations change. The couple finds the guests to be an impediment on their lives. They want to get rid of them.
The justification for Paresh Rawal and Tanvi Azmi’s forcing themselves as guests on Kartik and Kriti has been summed up through an irrelevant sob story and melodrama.
The film figures in the comedy genre and one is not meant to look for logic in comedy. The problem here is that, even after sacrificing logic, the film fails to create comedy. The scripting is poor and the comic situations are forced and, hence, fail to work. Paresh Rawal’s passing of gas with thunderous sounds is not considered comic anymore. Other attempts at comedy are juvenile. Direction is poor. There is no support from the musical score. Editing is weak. Dialogue fail to evoke laughter except when related to Mishra’s Pakistan connection. The use of Punjabi lacks the flavour.
Performances are just about passable. Kriti and Kartik make a good pair but the makers fail to create adequate chemistry between the two. Paresh Rawal sails through the film mainly on his reputation of being a great actor; he does not add to that in this film. Tanvi Azmi’s use of Punjabi lets her down. Sanjay Mishra is good as always. Ajay Devgn’s guest appearance serves no purpose.
Guest Iin London has had poor opening and lacks merits to improve.
Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak.
Director: Ashwani Dhir.
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Kharbanda, Paresh Rawal, Sanjay Mishra, Tanvi Azmi, Ajay Devgn (Sp Appearance).
Hindi
Jio Studios, Sanjay Dutt team up to revive Khal Nayak
Rights acquired for new version, format under wraps as remake plans take shape.
MUMBAI: The villain is back and this time, he’s rewriting his own script. Jio Studios has partnered with Three Dimension Motion Pictures and Aspect Entertainment to revive the 1993 cult classic Khal Nayak, marking a fresh chapter for one of Bollywood’s most iconic anti-hero stories. The original film, directed by Subhash Ghai under Mukta Arts, was a commercial and cultural milestone, with Sanjay Dutt’s portrayal of Ballu becoming one of Hindi cinema’s most memorable performances.
Dutt, along with Aksha Kamboj, has now acquired the rights from the original creators, bringing on board Jio Studios and its President Jyoti Deshpande to steer the project creatively.
While the exact format whether remake, sequel, prequel, or a completely new narrative remains undisclosed, the collaboration aims to reinterpret the story for contemporary audiences while retaining the essence that made the original a defining film of the 1990s.
The move taps into a broader industry trend of reviving legacy intellectual property, particularly characters with strong recall value. “Khal Nayak” was notable for pushing mainstream Hindi cinema into morally grey territory at a time when heroes were largely one-dimensional, making Ballu’s character a standout.
The project also marks the film production debut of Aspect Entertainment, signalling a push towards more technology-led storytelling frameworks. Meanwhile, Jio Studios continues to expand its slate, having built a library of over 200 films and series, with more than 60 titles collectively winning 500-plus awards.
For Dutt, the revival is as much personal as it is strategic, a return to a role that reshaped his career. For the industry, it is another sign that nostalgia, when paired with scale, remains a powerful box-office proposition.
Because in Bollywood, some villains never fade, they just wait for the perfect comeback.
