Dream Girl - there are lonely souls galore in a small town seeking solace from the soothing voices of call centre agents. When one of these agents Pooja goes missing in action, she is replaced by Ayushman Khurana, who is blessed with an inborn talent of speaking in a female voice. He assumes the name Pooja and is the soothing balm to the lovelorn individuals, several of whom happen to first fall the charm and then eventually fall in love with him. Problems start emerging when some of them want to meet Pooja personally and propose marriage.
The first half is absolutely hilarious with a series of peculiar characters being introduced and strange situations arising. In the interim, Ayushman Khurana goes on a flourish, keeping his histrionics effervescent and expressive. He is supported by Vijay Raaz whose comic timing and volatility are exceptional. Then there are Annu Kapoor, Abhishek Banerjee, Rajesh Sharma and Manjot Singh, who add to the melee. The second half turns into a drag, often coming across as repetitive, protracted and moving away from realism, somewhat diluting the easy charm of this laugh riot. Nushrat Bharucha appears comfortable in a different role compared to what she has been entrusted with until now, but her chemistry with Ayushman Khurana is weak, and no effort has been made to fix the problem too. Do watch Dream Girl for some comic relief from the regular tensions of life, you will not exactly remember the works of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee but won't find the presentation as inane as a Rohit Shetty flick too.
