Munde U.K. De

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 Sheirgill, Amrinder Gill, Neeru Bajwa, Rana Ranbir, and Gurpreet Ghuggi. It was released in India 8 May 2009,[1] and in Los Angeles, California, US, on 22 May 2009,[2] among other territories. It has a running time of 149 minutes.[2]

Munde U.K. De
Official film poster
Directed byManmohan Singh
StarringJimmy Sheirgill, Amrinder Gill, Neeru Bajwa, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Rana Ranbir
Music bySukshinder Shinda, Babloo Kumar
Release date
  • 8 May 2009 (2009-05-08) (India)
  • 22 May 2009 (2009-05-22)
CountryIndia
LanguagePunjabi
Budget₹2 crores
Box office₹8 crores

Plot

Two young Punjabi-British men visit their homeland, Punjab: Roop Singh (Jimmy Sheirgill), 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. 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 (debut of singer Amrinder Gill,). 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 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 this, Kulwant is heart-broken, and leaves DJ. Day before the engagement Candy reveals how modern girls really are, by bringing Jaila 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.

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 8 May 2009, and in Canada, the UK, Australia, the United States and other territories on 22 May 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
ReleasedEarly 2009
Recorded2009
GenrePunjabi
LabelTips Industries
ProducerSukhshinder Shinda and Babloo Kumar

All lyrics are written by Babbu Singh Mann and Amarjeet Musapuria; all music is 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 website Straight.com (Actor 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 clichéd but occasionally surprisingly sly and clever".[6]

Despite these negative reviews it seems to have done very well at the box office[7]

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.[8] The film is releasing on 8 August 2014 and was featuring much of the same cast, including of Jimmy Sheirgill , Neeru Bajwa , Gurpreet Ghuggi and crew of the first film.[9]

References
  1. Official site Archived 18 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. L.A. Weekly: "Movies"
  3. "'Munde UK De' making waves now", H. S. Communication press release via Merinews.com, 30 May 2009
  4. Dhillon, R. Paul. "Munde U.K. De is another half-baked, cliché-ridden NRI story" Straight.com, 11 May 2009
  5. Lovece, Frank. Film Review: Munde UK De — British by Right, Punjabi by Heart! Archived 20 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Film Journal International, 11 June 2009
  6. McDonagh, Maitland. "Munde U.K. de" Archived 14 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine (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 22 May". Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2009.
  8. "Aa Gaye Munde UK De".
  9. "Aa gaye Munde UK De". punjabiportal.com. punjabiportal.com. Archived from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
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