Munde U.K. De

Munde U.K. De

Official film poster
Directed by Manmohan Singh
Starring Jimmy Shergill, Amrinder Gill, Neeru Bajwa, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Rana Ranbir
Music by Sukshinder Shinda, Babloo Kumar
Release dates
  • 8 May 2009 (2009-05-08) (Indida)
  • 22 May 2006 (2006-05-22)
Country India
Language Punjabi
Budget 2.6

Munde U.K. De (literal translation: "Boys from the U.K."), distributed in English-speaking territories with the additional tagline British by Right, Punjabi by Heart!, is a Punjabi film by writer-director Manmohan Singh. The movie stars Jimmy Shergill, Amrinder Gill, Neeru Bajwa, Rana Ranbir, and Gurpreet Ghuggi. It was released in India May 8, 2009,[1] and in Los Angeles, California, US, on May 22, 2009,[2] among other territories. It has a running time of 149 minutes.[2]

Plot

Two young Punjabi-British men visit their homeland, Punjab: Roop Singh (Jimmy Shergill), comes to see his grandfather, Gurdit Singh (Arun Bali) and Roop's touristy pal DJ (Gurpreet Ghuggi) comes to see how Punjab is like. Roop meets Reet Brar (Neeru Bajwa), a university classmate of his cousin Deepi's, and falls for her, and DJ falls for brainy, Kulwant Kaur (Akshita Vasudeva), another classmate. DJ, trying to videotape locals in the town square, and learn more about his homeland, has to avoid a cranky old woman, Atro, who drives a tractor. Roop agrees to let his aunt be his matchmaker and set up an arranged marriage for himself and Reet, but the modern-thinking Reet wants no part of what she considers outmoded provincialism. Her father (Deep Dhillon) angrily sets up an arranged marriage for her with Jagjot Gill (singer Amrinder Gill, in his first film). Reet, however, reconsiders and realizes she loves Roop after all, and Kulwant falls for DJ too. Reet tells Jagjot, that she loves Roop a lot, so to help the lovers Jagjot says he's not ready to get married. After this incident no boy will marry Reet so, Reet's father and her ne'er-do-well brother, Jaile (Binnu Dhillon), devise a plan to figure out if he Roop really loves Reet: Her father will give his consent if Roop can find a British bride for Jaile, which will prove that Roop is ready to do anything for Reet. DJ calls in an old girlfriend from UK, party girl, Candy (Khushboo), who flies in to help, they plan a scheme which will scare Jaile away. Candy acts like a traditional, Punjabi girl, and wins Jaile's heart, so they fix, Roop and Reet's and Jaile and Candy's engagement for the same day. Candy tells Kulwant that DJ was in many relationships with many different girls, since she still loves DJ, after hearing that Kulwant is heart-broken, and leaves DJ. Then the day before the engagement Candy reveals how modern girls really are, by bringing him to a pub. On the engagement day Jaile runs away, Candy tells DJ, that if he doesn't sit in Jaile's spot, she will reveal the truth, so to help out his friend, DJ and Candy get engaged and so do Roop and Reet.

(At the end everyone is happy, even DJ.)

At Overseeing all the rom-com complications is Khoji (comedian Rana Ranbir, who wrote the film's dialog, with story supplied by the film's director-cinematographer, Manmohan Singh), the house manager for the well-to-do grandfather's estate and staff.

Cast

Release

Munde U.K. De was released in India May 8, 2009, and in Canada, the UK, Australia, the United States and other territories on May 22, 2009. In India the Response of Munde U.K De was strong and first-day shows sold out, earning Rs 12.5 crore in the first two weeks of release. Due to this response, Munde U.K De was released overseas with 36 prints, and it became a blockbuster, with a gross of Rs 26.9 crore in just the month of May alone. (The film's budget was Rs 4.5 crore.)

Crew

Production companies: Mukutwalas in association with Punj-Aab Movie International

Songs

Source: H. S. Communication press release[3]

Munde U.K. De
Soundtrack album by Sukhshinder Shinda and Babloo Kumar
Released Early 2009
Recorded 2009
Genre Punjabi
Producer Sukhshinder Shinda and Babloo Kumar

All lyrics written by Babbu Singh Mann and Amarjeet Musapuria; all music composed by Sukshinder Shinda and Babloo Kumar. 

Munde U.K. De
No.TitleSingerLength
1."Ishq Ho Gaya"  Amrinder Gill 
2."Ik Kudi Utte Aya Mera Dil"  Jasbir Jassi and Miss Pooja 
3."Kuch Bol Jubhano Bol"  Sardool Sikander 
4."Do Ghut Peelay"  Sunidhi Chauhan 
5."Munde UK De"  Labh Janjua 
6."Dil Milyan De Mela"  Amrinder Gill 
7."Kudiyan Vekhan Aye"  Ravinder Grewal, Sudesh Kumari, 
8."Ik Kudi Utte Aya Mera Dil (remix)"  Jasbir Jassi and Miss Pooja 

Reception

R. Paul Dhillon of the Vancouver, British Columbia arts and entertainment Web site Straight.com (co-star Neeru Bajwa is Vancouver-raised), bemoaned "a lame plot and largely clichéd characters", and called it "another half-baked NRIs-in-the-Punjab tale", using the abbreviation for non-resident Indian, while he did praise "Ghuggi, who’s become Punjabi cinema's version of Jim Carrey", for "a very nuanced and controlled performance, right down to the accent and mannerisms of Indo-British lads".[4] Frank Lovece of Film Journal International concurred, saying the "unexceptional romantic comedy won't turn any U.S. cineastes into Punjwood aficionados, and lacks the production values and star power Indian-American audiences have come to expect. ... The movie has modest charms ... but they're often drowned out by a bombastically melodramatic score, and lots of sitting-around-talking scenes with go-nowhere dialogue". Singah, he wrote, "shoots with dull, flattened lighting far removed from Bollywood's typical crystalline sheen".[5] Maitland McDonagh of MissFlickChick.com took a middle ground, calling the film "overlong, painfully cliched but occasionally surprisingly sly and clever".[6]

Commercial success

Despite these negative reviews it seems to have done very well at the box office[7] and seems to have gone down well with fans [8]

Sequel

Main article: Aa Gaye Munde U.K. De

In February 2014 it was announced that there would be a sequel to Munde U.K. De, entitled Aa Gaye Munde U.K. De. The movie marks the third time a Punjabi film has had a sequel made.[9] The film is releasing on 8 August 2014 and was featuring much of the same cast, including of Jimmy Shergill , Neeru Bajwa , Gurpreet Ghuggi and crew of the first film.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Official site
  2. 1 2 L.A. Weekly: "Movies"
  3. ↑ "'Munde UK De' making waves now", H. S. Communication press release via Merinews.com, May 30, 2009
  4. ↑ Dhillon, R. Paul. "Munde U.K. De is another half-baked, cliché-ridden NRI story" Straight.com, May 11, 2009
  5. ↑ Lovece, Frank. Film Review: Munde UK De — British by Right, Punjabi by Heart!, Film Journal International, June 11, 2009
  6. ↑ McDonagh, Maitland. "Munde U.K. de" (review), MissFlickChick.com
  7. ↑ The film was also released in Australia with six prints. Australia is a non-traditional center for Punjabi films but even then it went on to take a bumper opening there. In U.K. the film was released in seven cinemas with 10 prints and unbelievably registered full houses. In Canada Munde U.K. De was released with 12 prints in 11 cinemas and seeing great crowd turnout. There is growing demand for more prints for the film in the USA as well and a bigger release is planned there on May 22nd
  8. ↑ Someone who gets turned off by Indian films in general, and Punjabi films, I found this really funny and great fun. It has a thumping Bhangra soundtrack that had me tapping my feet. Even if you don't understand Punjabi, fully like me, you will love this film. The comedian (Ghuggi) had me in stitches, playing the UK Jazzy B Bay Boy look alike. He's good hearted but cannot get his words quite right in Punjabi (with his English accent). I identified with this a lot. Also looked at how different customs are different here and in Punjab. No over dramatic melodrama. Just a good story. I won't spoil it for you. Thought I'd mention the soundtrack again. It is brilliant. Some great tunes, and great dancing.
  9. ↑ "Aa Gaye Munde UK De".
  10. ↑ "Aa gaye Munde UK De". punjabiportal.com. punjabiportal.com. Retrieved 2014-07-23.
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