Happy Patel: Khatarnak Jasoos, directed by Vir Das and Kavi Shastri and produced by Aamir Khan Productions, is an adult spy comedy crafted to entertain through humour. The film confidently slopes towards satire, ensuring that laughter remains its primary currency, while cleverly embedding layered commentary beneath the jokes. The narrative consistently keeps the audience engaged with witty dialogue and comic timing, rather than relying on conventional spy spectacle, as the script is built around sharp writing that deliberately exaggerates situations.
The film very much thrives on language-based humour, particularly through the protagonist, Happy Patel (Vir Das), who was born in India but raised in Britain. His flawed Hindi pronunciations and anglicized accent become recurring comedic triggers. These linguistic slips often carry double meanings, amplifying the dark humour and reinforcing the cultural disconnect that defines the character. One can clearly see many stand-up comedy acts woven into a twohour-long cinematic format, where the storyline stretches across a decade.
While Aamir Khan’s brief cameo at the beginning and Imran Khan’s impactful presence toward the climax add star-driven appeal, the true strength of the film lies in how Vir Das sustains comedy throughout the narrative. The screenplay playfully explores binaries such as Indians versus Britishers, blacks versus whites, colonialism versus socialism, rich versus poor, and criminals versus commoners. Rather than moralizing, the film frames these contrasts through irreverent humour, making it a light-hearted yet socially aware comedy that entertains while subtly reflecting on identity, power, and perception. Happy Patel (Vir Das) is an everyday individual with no ambition beyond surviving his own bad decisions and is dragged into covert operation far larger and more chaotic than he understands. He is trained with strategy, local cultural dynamics, people’s behaviour, Indian people’s love for cinema etc., by MI-7, a British intelligence group.
Mama (Mona Singh) is an underworld don taking Hafta from the locals and literally ruling the Panjor, Goa. As a front, she runs a restaurant business, and has a logistics business (A. G. Packerwal), which is just a cover under which she controls crimes like extortion and kidnapping, etc. She has kidnapped a British citizen to facilitate her research to make a fast acting skin whitening cream.
Happy performs the role of a spy without fully understanding the cultural or emotional environment surrounding them. The humour arises from Happy’s interactions, misunderstandings, and gradual confrontation with his own identity. He plays along with the absurdity of circumstances, improvising his way through high-risk situations with nothing but instinct, humour, and misplaced confidence. It is a satire of spy drama that prioritizes humour, irony, and character over spectacle.
to free the British citizen, Geet (Sharib Hashmi), plays the role of Sardar, who often creates comical scenes by misinterpreting the linguistic misadventures of Happy Patel. And then you have that glamour element in the form of Rupa (Mithila Palkar), a dancer and an original undercover of Mama, eventually falling in love with Happy and turning against Mama
A cameo of celebrity Chef Sanjiv Kapoor adds a dash of spice to the climax. And interestingly, the names of various elements in the film resonate with prominent brands, ideas, and products that are commonly used by the public in India, adding to the humour quotient. What also keeps the humour alive throughout the film is the misunderstood linguistics of Happy Patel, apart from the creatively planned costumes.
Praveen Nagda, Festival Director of KidzCINEMA and CultureCINEMA Film Festivals