Be Happy

Be Happy (2025) : Movie Review -

Be Happy is a film that pretends to be about "happiness," but is actually Remo sir's substitute for ABCD 4, which was never made after the flop run of Street Dancer 3D. The worst aspect of the film is that a 9-year-old girl acts better than Nora Fatehi and Nassar sir, and interestingly, that's also the best part of the film.

Be Happy follows a little girl, Dhara (Inaayat Verma), who wants to pursue a career in dancing, but her banker father, Shiv (Abhishek Bachchan), wants her to keep dance as a hobby and focus on her studies for a better career. Maggie (Nora Fatehi) runs a dancing academy and is impressed by Dhara's amazing dancing skills. After a few hiccups, she manages to take Dhara under her wing and eventually helps her get selected for a dancing reality show. Just when everything seems to be going well for Dhara and her father, fate plays a dark game and puts a halt to their hopes. Will they be able to fight it?

Similar to ABCD 2 and Street Dancer 3D, Remo's artificial setup of dance sequences ruins the organic feel in this film. It's better to watch any reality show's extended preview episode before the grand finale than to watch this movie. However, it does evoke emotion by the end, even though the climax is highly superficial. The father-daughter duo delivers a whole performance without rehearsals. Ab bolo? Be Happy isn't clever in such situations, and there are many like this. The character of Johnny Lever was entirely out of place, and the angle of Maggie and Shiv as a soon-to-be couple felt soulless. The kids behaved beyond their ages, while the adults acted like children. There's much more to take a dig at, but the film ultimately gets the "spotlight" at the end, making us go ahead with the full use of a pair of tissues.

Performance-wise, Inaayat Verma, despite being a child artist, emerged as the best actor among the entire cast. As I mentioned, she acts beyond her age despite a moderate IQ level in academics (49.8% or something), as if she were a completely mature and intelligent child. Abhishek Bachchan was good, and Nassar was watchable-conditions apply. Nora Fatehi looks sexy in her dance attire, and her moves are killer, but her acting skills will kill you. The time has come for her to focus on expressions and dialogue delivery because it becomes predictably irritating to listen to her foreign accent when she delivers Hindi dialogues. Hopefully, she'll improve in the future, or better yet, she should continue dancing because she is indeed a fantastic dancer. There is a large supporting cast that hasn't done anything worth mentioning here, so I'll skip it.

Thematic similarities were expected, but D'Souza's setup and storytelling have not really progressed over the years. The technical aspects hardly make any difference, and the music adds extra boredom. Either "Be Happy" didn't truly understand its own message, or it failed to explore it well on screen. The idea of happiness sounded better at the start, but by the time it reached its finale, it became tedious and quite illogical. Remo D'Souza's vision for dance movies needs improvement, but I don't think it will make any difference-it hasn't in Hollywood, so Bollywood is far behind. "Be Happy" still has those "be sad" moments that will make you cry, but the rest of the show, much like Dhara's age, is CHILDISH.

RATING - 4/10*

Abhishek Bachchan has never been praised for his acting capabilities but I feel he deserves love and appreciation as he has the ability to dive deep into the character. I'm sure he is a real loving father and his love for his child is displayed in his character for movies like LUDO, I WANT TO TALK and this movie too.

This movie goes a long way in providing new perspective on father daughter relationship in today's age, where family don't have time to talk to each other forget discussing dreams. Parents plan something for their children and children never have clarity on what they want except mobile. They dream today's world through mobile, not based on reality or inner calling. This movie takes us back to an era of giving importance to family before anything. Acting is good, and dialogue are excellent and to the point. It's good family movie and has message of entire family. Sometimes it is a bit emotional but that is something about originality and purity of father daughter relationship. Daughter's will always have a close bond with then father and the emotional turmoil they both good through is really hard to understand. Please watch this wonderful movie.

I love Bollywood because it evokes emotions in me despite being a foreigner. Almost all mainstream movies that were released after covid lack soul, exception being 12th Fail, Laapata Ladies etc... This movie made me cry, I cared about the characters which rarely happens with recent Hindi movies. The child actor was brilliant, Abhishek was great and the rest of the cast were good as well. Even Though Norah's accent was visible even to me who barely speak Hindi, learning from watching too many Bollywood movies. The story had its flaws, but after watching so many senseless Bollywood movies these past few years like Pathaan or Fighter or Loveyappa (lol don't judge, wanted to see how Amir Khan ka bheta would do in movies and don't let me begin with Nadaniyaan) it was closest to the Bollywood my millennial ass could relate to. Overall I wanted to pass time and watch something with my dinner and being an Abhishek fan I decided on this and I didn't regret it.

It isn't just a movie - it's a radiant burst of sunshine captured on film. It makes profound observations about human happiness while never feeling preachy or saccharine.

Unlike many "feel-good" films that manipulate emotions, "Be Happy" earns every smile and tear through genuine character moments. The happiness depicted here is messy, hard-won, and all the more beautiful for it.

Fans of "The Pursuit of Happyness", "Little Miss Sunshine", or "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" will find similar magic here, though "Be Happy" carves its own unique emotional path.

Perfect For When You Need:

• A mood boost that feels earned
• Reminders that beauty exists in ordinary moments
• To feel genuinely uplifted without cheap sentimentality.

This happens when a person from dance field makes a movie, she/he would have cool ideas about the songs but no solid glue to compile those songs / song situation into one good story. Last ~15 minutes are truly beautiful and heartwarming, but rest of the movie feels dull. It lacks emotional appeal. For such movies to work, it requires a little bit of melodrama. But this movie runs pretty flat. Performances from main leads of three generations are very good, but story and director is not energetic, appealing and it lacks novelty. Inayat Verma's character is well developed, but despite having potential, Abhishek didn't get enought chance to show his talent in father's role. Most of his screen time is consumed in playing the cliches of lonely gloomy widower. Even a one scene would do the job, in which he cries alone for his daughter's pain and talks with his dead wife. This scene too is a cliche, but it still will be more emotional than a gloomy flat face. In somewhat similar space, "the sky is pink" was much more impactful and moving story.