July 21, 2025
by Carla Hay
“Sarbala Ji” is an unnecessarily convoluted mess of nonsense that becomes tiresome within the first 15 minutes of this 150-minute vapid film. It’s a very unfunny comedy about two male cousins, their love interests, identity mix-ups and a kidnapping. It’s a very unfunny comedy about two male cousins, their love interests, identity mix-ups and a kidnapping. Expect to have your eardrums assaulted when watching this annoying movie because the characters spend most of their screen time shouting at each other.
Directed by Mandeep Kumar and written by Inderjit Moga, “Sarbala Ji” (which means “young boy” in Punjabi) takes place in Punjab, India, in the early 1940s, before Punjab gained its independence in 1947. However, “Sarbala Ji” still has references to British colonialism because there are some British military officers in the movie, which makes all the Brits look like buffoons. In terms of the movie’s narrative tone, it clearly wants to be a screwball romantic comedy similar to those that were released in the 1940s, but “Sarbala Ji” is mostly just a mush of ideas thrown together and depicted in annoying ways.
“Sarbala Ji” begins by showing a wedding entertainer named Sucha (played by Gippy Grewal) performing at a wedding. Such is a bachelor who has an arrogant personality: He think he’s the most desirable man in a room at any given time. Sucha also believes that he wll have no problems eventually finding a beautiful wife who meets his standards.
During his wedding performance, one of the bachelorette guests named Rajjo (played by Sargun Mehta) winks at Sucha, so he winks back. Sucha’s winking offends many people at the wedding, so an elderly guru is brought over to Sucha and tells Sucha that Sucha can choose between one of two punishments. The guru says the first option is to be cursed with never being able to get married. Before the guru can say what the second option is, he suddenly keels over and dies.
Meanwhile, Sucha’s cousin (who is also Sucha’s best friend) is Gajjan (played by Ammy Virk), a shy bachelor who is afraid to get married. Gajjan (who has four sisters and is their only brother) is a seamster who has a passion for sewing. In terms of personalities, Sucha is an “alpha male,” while Gajjan is a “beta male.”
One day, Gajjan sees a pretty woman named Pyaar “Pyaaro” Kaur (played by Nimrat Khaira) in an outdoor marketplace. It’s infatuation at first sight for Gajjan, who quickly gets over his fear of getting married when he sees Pyaaro. Gajjan strikes up a flirtatious conversation with Pyaaro and tells her that they can leave this earth after they get married. (That’s an example of how awful the dialogue is in “Sarbala Ji.”)
Sucha sees Rajjo again while walking outside, but she plays hard to get. Sucha tells Rajjo that she’s beautiful. Rajjo’s response: “Of course, I’m beautiful. That doesn’t give a random Jatt the right to wink at me.” Rajjo is often seen with her bratty niece, who’s about 10 or 11, and who makes it clear that she doesn’t like Sucha.
There’s also an irritating side character named Daara (played by Raj Buttar), who has a high-pitched voice that’s about as pleasant as listening to screeching audio feedback. Daara’s only purpose in the movie is to be a jerk. For example, after Daara hears about Sucha’s “no marriage” curse, Daara gloats when he says to Sucha: “I’m getting married—unlike you, who’ll be a bachelor for life.”
Gujjan and Pyaaro begin dating, fall in love, and plan to get married. However, things go awry when Gujjan is kidnapped by gang of thieves, led named Sardar Singh (played by Guggu Gill), and Sucha takes drastic measures (which leads to an identity mix-up) to have the wedding go as planned. Gujjan and Pyaaro find out that Rajjo and Pyaaro have a connection that is utterly predictable.
The absymal acting in “Sarbala Ji” sometimes unbearable to watch. The song-and-dance numbers are unimpressive. And much of the movie is just a silly bore of chase scenes and emotionally immature characters squawking at each other in idiotic conversations. Instead of caring about how “Sarbala Ji” is going to end, many viewers will keep looking at the nearest time-keeping device and only care about when this abomination of a movie is going to end.
FunAsia Films released “Sarbala Ji” in select U.S. cinemas and in India on July 18, 2025.