Muklawa

Muklawa is a 2019 Indian-Punjabi romantic comedy period film directed by Simerjit Singh, and produced by Gunbir Singh Sidhu and Manmord Sidhu under the banner of White Hill Studios. The film is based on the after the wedding custom when a newly-wed bride is taken back to her husband’s home for the first time and stars Ammy Virk, Sonam Bajwa, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Karamjit Anmol and B.N. Sharma in prominent roles.

Muklawa is set against the backdrop of the Punjab of 1960s. The film is scheduled to be released on the 24 May 2019 and principal photography of the film began in September 2018.

Cast

 * Ammy Virk as Shinda
 * Sonam Bajwa as Taaro
 * Gurpreet Ghuggi as Nimma
 * Karamjit Anmol
 * B.N. Sharma
 * Nirmal Rishi
 * Sarabjit Cheema
 * Drishti Grewal
 * Gurpreet Bhangu
 * Parminder Gill

Production
Principal photography of the film was started just after the release of Ammy Virk’s starrer Qismat on 22 September 2018 where Suresh Beesaveni served as cinematographer. Muklawa refers to a ceremony when a husband comes to take his bride back from her parents’ place. In the film Ammy and Sonam Bajwa would be seen in lead roles after Nikka Zaildar and Nikka Zaildar 2. Also, all the three films are directed by same director Simerjit Singh. Virk in an interview described the filming experience as “unique” and added that the old living style, food and tradition of Punjab had always attracted him and he felt great living it while shooting the movie. Producers of the film said, “it was a challenge to showcase the rich Punjabi culture in real sense, but the team did it perfectly.”

Music
The background score of the film is composed by Gurmeet Singh and Sandeep Saxena, whereas soundtrack is composed by Cheetah and Gurmeet Singh. The lyrics are penned by Happy Raikoti, Raju Verma, Udaar, Vinder Nathumajara, and Harmanjeet, and is released by the record label White Hill Music. Full soundtrack of the film was released on 27 April 2019 on iTunes and other platforms. The song "Gulaabi Paani" was well received by audience. Music of the film was praised by critics but some found song "Kala Suit" inappropriate for the film.

Release and marketing
The film was initially scheduled to release on 3 May 2019 but in December 2018 the film was postponed to 24 May 2019. The film clashed with Gippy Grewal and Sargun Mehta starrer Chandigarh Amritsar Chandigarh.

On 6 January 2019, Sonam Bajwa uploaded the mini clip from the film in which she put to blush by Ammy Virk on Instagram. First look poster of the film was released on 4 April 2019 and the official trailer of the film was released on 13 April 2019. Also, a contest was launched by in which meaning of the title was to be explained.

Box office
Muklawa on its opening day grossed ₹1.02 crore on its opening day in India.

Critical reception
Gurnaaz Kaur of The Tribune gave two and a half star out of five summarising, “it[Muklawa] could have been a better watch if the story was crisp; if Sonam’s character had some meat; if the melodrama of the two families towards the end was limited. The movie scores for Ammy’s honest performance. Sarabjit Cheema and Drishti Grewal too have done a good job of their roles. It’s a good attempt to depict an age-old tradition and love in all its innocence.” Punjabi website Daah Films gave three stars out of five. She praised the chemistry between Virk and Bajwa, performances of all characters; in last added, “Negative aspects are that the Twists and Turns shown in the film are not very factful which came out to give an unimpactful ending. Technical aspects are good as Direction has binded the story and others aspects like Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction all are also done well. Music of Muklawa is good as all the songs are very entertaining but Kala Suit song is not the film. Now may be this could be because of any technical issue or story demand.”