Ammy Virk, Anita Devgan, Bambukat, Bambukat 2, drama, Gurpreet Ghuggi, India, Karamjit Anmol, Malkeet Rauni, movies, Pankaj Batra, Resham Singh, reviews, Simi Chahal
February 27, 2026
by Carla Hay
Directed by Pankaj Batra
Punjabi with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in India’s state of Punjab, in the 1960s, the dramatic film “Bambukat 2” (a sequel to the 2016 movie “Bambukat”) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A former palace employee and his arrogant brother-in-law put aside their differences to be in a car race against a ruthless business mogul.
Culture Audience: “Bambukat 2” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching movie sequels that are inferior to the original movie.
“Bambukat 2” is a sloppily made comedy sequel with awkward acting and horrendous dialogue. It repeats 2016’s “Bambukat” story about social class wars reduced to a motor vehicle showdown. This 173-minute movie is entirely too long for all the idiocy on display. “Bambukat” has a motorcycle for the movie’s big showdown. “Bambukat 2” makes the vehicle showdown a racing car competition.
“Bambukat 2” was directed by Pankaj Batra and written by Jass Grewal, who had the same roles for “Bambukat.” Many of the same cast members from “Bambukat” are in this sequel, which also takes place in the 1960s, in India’s state of Punjab. “Bambukat 2” was filmed in the Indian cities of Bihar and Assam.
In “Bambukat 2,” protagonist Channan Singh (played by Ammy Virk) is now married to his sweetheart Parminder “Pakko” Kaur (played by Simi Chahal), who is pregnant and gives birth to their first child: a boy. This plot development is already revealed in the “Bambukat 2” trailer. Resham had a prominent role in “Bambkuat,” but in “Bambukat 2,” Resham is mostly sidelined and in a “cheerleader” type of role, where her only purpose is to support and cheer on Channan.
In the beginning of “Bambukat 2,” Channan has what many people think is a prestigious job working at the royal palace. When Channan’s unnamed parents (played by Anita Devgan and Malkeet Rauni) arrive from out of town to visit him at the palace, they’re shocked to find out that Channan has quit his job. Channan tells his parents that he could no longer work there because he “earned his money through disgrace” and alludes to quitting because he could no longer tolerate the corruption.
Channan and Pakko move back to the small rural village that is their hometown, where she gives birth to their son. In “Bambukat 2,” Karamjit Anmol reprises his “Bambukat” role as Channan’s sidekick friend. This friend doesn’t add much to the plot and is just there to be a little bit of comic relief.
Much of “Bambukat 2” is about Channan being unemployed and his rival brother-in-law Binnu Dhillon (played by Resham Singh) gloating about it. Just like in “Bambukat,” Channan and Binnu (who works as a police station master) are very competitive with each other. A great deal of the plot in “Bambukat” was about Channan feeling insecure because he thinks Pakko’s family shows more respect to Binnu than Channan.
One day, a small private plane crashes in a village field. The plane explodes, and the resulting fire destroys many of the town’s crops. The pilot is able to escape before this explosion happens. An investigation determines that the pilot had been temporarily blinded by a hand-held mirror that was taken out by a villager on the ground.
The owner of the plane is ruthless business mogul Kunwar Mahendra Pratap, nicknamed KMP (played by Gurpreet Ghuggi), who demands to know who the “guilty” person is who had the mirror. KMP has a public hearing at an outside gathering place in the village. It’s not exactly a fair hearing, since KMP is acting like a judge and jury.
Eventually, a nervous young woman admits she has the mirror. When KMP orders her to say who sold her the mirror, she is reluctant and gives vague answers. KMP demands that the woman pay the costs for the destroyed plane, even though KMP knows she doesn’t have the money.
Channan steps in to defend her and to tell KMP that KMP should reimburse the villlage for the crops that were destroyed by the plane explosion. KMP then turns his wrath on Channan and tells Channan that Channan has to pay the costs for the destroyed plane. Channan doesn’t have the money either.
It’s really the movie’s contrivance for Channan to enter a car race to win the money that he needs. As if to put an emphasis on Channan being an “underdog” with the odds stacked against him, Channan’s race car is a Volkswagen Beetle. Seriously.
Channan gets an unlikely partner in this race: Resham. KMP happens to be married to Resham’s sister. KMP and his wife are parents to fraternal twin sons And Resham has a reason for revenge against KMP because KMP humiliated Resham in front of KMP’s wife and sons.
You’d think a 10-year gap between the original “Bambukat” movie and a sequel would be enough time for the filmmakers to come up with clever and inventive ideas for the sequel. But that’s not the case here. In fact, it seems like the filmmakers couldn’t come up with anything that would fit into the theme of “bambukat” (which means “motorcycle” in Punjabi) and came up with a flimsy plot about racing cars instead.
“Bambukat 2” drags on and on before the actual racing begins. The movie’s dialogue, editing and overall direction are mostly subpar. The acting performances are mediocre at best, with Dhillon overacting to the point of being very irritating. Everything in “Bambukat 2” is unimaginative and formulaic, with all of it made worse by the movie’s unnecessarily bloated running time. “Bambukat 2” ends with a “To be continued …” caption. Based on the worsening quality of the “Bambukat” movie series, don’t expect “Bambukat 3” to be an improvement.
Rhythm Boyz and 100 Films released “Bambukat 2” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on February 20, 2026.