Cirkus
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rohit Shetty
Written by	Farhad Samji Sanchit Bedre Vidhi Ghodgaonkar
Screenplay by	Yunus Sajawal
Based on	The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
Produced by	Rohit Shetty Bhushan Kumar
Starring	Ranveer Singh Pooja Hegde Jacqueline Fernandez Varun Sharma
Cinematography	Jomon T. John
Edited by	Bunty Nagi
Music by	Devi Sri Prasad Badshah Lijo George-DJ Chetas
Production companies	Rohit Shetty Productionz T-Series Films
Distributed by	Reliance Entertainment
Release date	23 December 2022
Running time	139 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Cirkus is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language period comedy film^[2][3] directed and produced by Rohit Shetty. The film is jointly produced by Rohit Shetty Productionz and T-Series.^[4] The film stars Ranveer Singh & Varun Sharma in dual roles alongside Pooja Hegde and Jacqueline Fernandez.^[5][6] It also features Deepika Padukone and Ajay Devgn in special appearances.^[7][8]

Cirkus is based on William Shakespeare‘s play The Comedy of Errors.^[9][10] Principal photography for the film began in November 2020 at Mumbai and also took place in Ooty.^[11]

Cirkus was theatrically released on 23 December 2022, coinciding with Christmas Eve.^[12]

Cast[edit]

• Ranveer Singh in a dual role as Roy / Current Man^[13]
• Pooja Hegde as Mala, Roy’s wife
• Jacqueline Fernandez as Bindu, Roy’s girlfriend
• Johnny Lever as Polson Dada
• Sanjay Mishra as Rai Bahadur, Bindu’s father
• Varun Sharma in a dual role as Joy
• Siddhartha Jadhav as Momo
• Mukesh Tiwari as Daaku Bagheera
• Radhika Bangia as Lily
• Vrajesh Hirjee as Naag mani, a taxi driver
• Ashwini Kalsekar as Shakuntala Devi, Roy’s mother
• Murali Sharma as Dr. Roy Jamnadas
• Tiku Talsania as Veljibhai, a jeweller
• Nikitin Dheer as Joy’s father
• Vijay Patkar as Shankar
• Brijendra Kala as Yusuf
• Anil Charanjeett as Prem
• Uday Tikekar as Joy Jamnadas
• Sulabha Arya as Chachi

Cameo appearances[edit]

• Ajay Devgn as Gopal Kumar Santoshi^[8] (reprising his character from Golmaal series)
• Deepika Padukone as Meenalochni “Meenamma” Azhagusundaram (reprising her character from Chennai Express) for special appearance in song “Current Laga Re”^[14]

Production[edit]

The Principal photography began on 17 November 2020 in Mumbai.^[15] Film production was halted during the final schedule in April 2021 as shootings were stopped in Mumbai, due to the second wave of COVID-19, and the final schedule resumed in Ooty around November 2021 and was completed within December 2021.^[16] Some patchwork also took place in July 2022. The entire filming for Cirkus was wrapped up on November 2022. The trailer of the film was released on 2 December 2022 worldwide.

Music[edit]

The music of the film is composed by Devi Sri Prasad, Badshah and Lijo George-DJ Chetas. The first single titled “Current Laga Re” was released on 8 December 2022. The second single “Sun Zara”, sung by Papon and Shreya Ghoshal released on 16 December 2022.^[17] The Third single “Aashiqui”, sung by Badshah and Amrita Singh released on 21 December.^[18]

Release[edit]

Cirkus was released in cinemas on 23 December 2022. The film was initially scheduled to release on 31 December 2021, during New Year, and then on 15 July 2022, but couldn’t meet the dates due to production delays via COVID-19 pandemic.^[19] In May 2022, the new release date with first official poster was announced — 23 December 2022, thus eyeing Christmas Eve.^[12][20]

Critical Reception[edit]

Calling the film predictable and unoriginal, Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost wrote, “There’s only so far that an actor’s innate talent, nostalgia and kitschy images can take a film. Soon enough, Cirkus blurs the line between imitation and tribute, until the fun completely ceases.” In her 1.75/5-rated review, she added a note of praise towards Shetty’s continued use of the Tamil language, stating “Ironically, Rohit Shetty’s much-lambasted comedies give us more authenticity in the use of language in southern Indian settings than most commercial Hindi cinema bothers with.” ^[21]

Ronak Kotecha of The Times of India gave the film 2/5 stars and wrote, “Cirkus is a busy film filled with a battery of characters put together with a purpose to make us laugh, but is far from that. Entertaining the audience with slapstick comedy and drama is a tightrope that Rohit Shetty has successfully walked before but this time he seems to have tripped several times along the way.”^[22]

Rating the film 2/5, India Today critic Tushar Joshi wrote, “The issue with Cirkus is that it feels outdated. Not because it’s set in the 60’s, but the formula is cliched. The VFX in some scenes looks amateurish and the music, unlike Shetty’s previous films, is a big downer. There is no harm in making a mindless comedy, but for it to work you need to have some solid writing to back your effort”. He added, “In Cirkus, the writing is average and the only time the film picks tempo is when the supporting cast delivers. Jacqueline Fernandez and Pooja Hegde have very little to offer. Ranveer in dual roles gives his best, but he is let down by a weak script that doesn’t do justice to his efforts.”^[23]