Happy New Year

From the center to the extremes: Charlie, Mohini, Nandu, Jag, Tammy and Rohan

Happy New Year is a 2014 Bollywood heist comedy, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani, Vivaan Shah and Jackie Shroff. It was directed and choreographed by Farah Khan, who also directed Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om (both starring SRK, and the later also starring Padukone)

Eight years ago, Charan Grover (Jackie Shroff), a diamond dealer, hired Manohar Sharma (Anupam Kher) to build him an impenetrable safe, only to pay Sharma by framing him for stealing a lot of diamonds (that Grover himself stole) and getting him in a Saudi prison. Now Sharma's son, Charlie, wants revenge, and has created the perfect plan: infiltrate the safe, steal a shipment of diamonds, and then frame Grover for it. Charlie even has assembled the perfect team for the infiltration, who include the original designer of the safe, a hacker, a former army explosive specialist, and a lookalike for the only person who can access the biometric systems of the safe.

Just one problem: the only weak point to get to the safe is in a lounge room booked as a dressing room, and the only possible timeframe to access to both the dressing room and the intended diamonds is during an international dance competition to be celebrated at late December, on the Christmas to New Year's Eve week. And while Charlie and his team are all well fitted for a heist, they are not so much fit for a dance competition... and they only have six months before that one.

The Team Diamonds (eventually Team India):

  • Chandramohan Manohar Sharma, alias Charlie (Shah Rukh Khan): the leader of the team. Utterly devoted to avenge his father's honor. Has spent most of the last eight years as an underground fighter (along with several other odd jobs) to get the funds for his heist.
  • Jagmohan Prakash, a.k.a Jag (Sonu Sood): former Army Bomb Squad Captain, went on leave after becoming partially deaf after a defusing incident and, until called by Charlie, worked as a special effects expert. Gets in an explosive rage if he believes somebody is badmouthing his mom.
  • Tehmton Irani, a.k.a Tammy, (Boman Irani): the designer of the particular safe Charlie wants to open, and so in love with that safe he is capable to open it without codes. Was the best friend of Sharma Sr., so he has extra reasons to join Charlie on his revenge scheme. Tends to have epileptic convulsion when overly stressed.
  • Rohan Singh (Vivaan Shah): Jag's nephew, an expect hacker able to penetrate on any system as long as he has internet connection.
  • Nandu Bhide (Abhishek Bachchan): a party animal, prone to drink until puking. Hired by Charlie because of his uncanny likeness to Charan Grover's son Vicky (also Bachchan), the only person with access to the biometric systems of the safe.
  • Mohini Joshi (Deepika Padukone): The Sixth Ranger and The Chick. A bar dancer, roped by Nandu when the team dancing lessons go nowhere. Self-proclaimed "best dancer in India" and with enough talent to back that boast. Quickly develops a crush on Charlie. Blissfully unaware of the team real intentions.... at least at first.
Tropes used in Happy New Year include:

I'm the best dancer on India, and in the whole world, third only to J.lo and Shakira

  • Bikini Bar: the bar where Mohini works.
  • Blackmail: Charlie makes the judges approve Team Diamonds to the World Dance Championship auditions by revealing he had footage of the judges' homosexual relationship and threatening to show it to their respective wives.
  • Blind Idiot Translation: as Charlie puts it: "Mohini loves 'the English' but Mohini can't speak the English". When in charge of the team dance clothes, Mohini embroiders "TEEM DEMONDS" in their capes. And the least it's said of the banner for her dance school the better.
  • The Cameo: several Indian personalities, including Vishal Shekhar (one of the composers for the film) as one of the judges, and eternal Item Girl Malaika Arora as the heroine of the film Jag was working at the beginning.
  • The Caper: The core of both the plot and the backstory.
  • Chekov's Gun: Nandu's ability to puke on demand. Mohini's artistic integrity. The fact that the World Dance Championship trophy is adorned with imitations of the diamonds Charlie and his team want to steal.
  • Conscience Makes You Go Back: After the heist is done and the gang is going to escape, Mohini decides to go back to the Dance competition finale, as she wants to prove herself and doesn't want to disappoint the fans they gained during the event. Rohan decides to go with her because he won't forgive himself if he leaves her unprotected. When Charlie proposes to leave them behind anyway, the rest of the gang are so appalled, they abandon him and go back too. In the end, Charlie decides to go back too and appears at the climax of their final number. And turns out it was a good desition after all, because their return discredits Grover's suspicions of the gang being the thieves in front of his infuriated associates.
  • Foreign Culture Fetish: Mohini has one for the English language, to the point that she initially crushes on Charlie just because he is fluent in the language, and when he mistakenly offends her Nandu advice him "just say anything in English and she will forgive you".
  • Genre Savvy: all the characters have their moments.
  • Kavorka Man: Tammy. Somehow all the women 30 and up in his neighborhood want to see him jogging, and once in Saudi Arabia, he manages to attract young hotties to Jag's bafflement.
  • Handicapped Badass: Jag
  • Hollywood Hacking: Rohan's specialty
  • "I Am" Song: "India Waale"
  • Identical Stranger: Nandu and Vicky. Nandu even lampshades it.
  • Right Behind Me: Charlie somehow manages to get the person he is badmouthing just behind him exactly at the max of his ranting. By the third time, the person even said "At this point you should have got accustomed"
  • Running Gag: Along with the Right Behind Me above, every time Charlie and Mohini get closer to each other things get on fire near them.
  • Safecracking: Tammy's position in the team
  • Shout Out: To a previous film of the director: "is that a Dar de Disco look?"
  • So Bad It's Good: in universe, their dance number "Nonsense Ki Night" memetically becomes one.
  • Spontaneous Combustion: for some reason, things spontaneously combust and existent flames burn higher whenever Mohini and Charlie have some sort of passionate moment.
  • Throw It In: in universe, when Tammy begins to convulse in scene, Mohini gestures to the rest to imitate his movements to make it look like a dance move.
  • Underdogs Never Lose
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Charlie and Jag are both introduced this way.
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