Kings of Mulberry Street: Let Love Reign Review [Netflix]

Director: Judy Naidoo | Script: Judy Naidoo | Cast: Liam Dunpath (Ticky), Shaan Nathoo (Harold Singh/Baboo), Hamish Kyd (Veerasamy), Kogie Naidoo (Oma Chetty/Ma), Amith Singh (Dev Singh), ea | Time to play: 109 minutes | Year: 2023

Kings of Mulberry Street: Let Love Reign it is after Kings of Mulberry Street From 2019 the second adventure of the South African Baboo and his best friend Ticky. When Ticky’s grandmother is kidnapped, the kidnapper wants the two of them to steal a necklace. Ticky and Baboo, along with an assembled group of friends, acquaintances, and family, pretend to be a famous Bollywood showman from India to steal the necklace. The acting and his painstaking plan at the end of the movie are interesting and entertaining, but not the hour before.

Kings of Mulberry Street: Let Love Reign begins at Leila’s birthday party. Baboo likes this girl and tries to impress her, but (of course) it goes wrong and the two friends leave disappointed. Baboo’s humiliation is clichéd and lasts half a minute too long, but Baboo’s innocent charm keeps her eyes from rolling back.

At that party, the children and Ticky’s grandmother are kidnapped by an ex-cop. He doesn’t like them because of the events of the first movie from 2019. This is the only connection made in this sequel to the story of that. Therefore it is not necessary Kings of Mulberry Street to understand the second movie.

The first hour of this sequel is filled with uninspired acting. The two guys are generally acceptable, but here and there it becomes apparent that they are two actors engaging in dialogue one after the other, rather than two friends spontaneously reacting to each other. Also, the ex-cop isn’t funny, he’s certainly not scary, and he’s not fun to watch. Fortunately, his son has three funny comments, but otherwise he fulfills the cliché of a minor character who can’t do anything and is easily fooled.

Ma, on the other hand, isn’t that bad. She has the funniest moments and steals the spotlight in the few scenes she has with the kidnapper’s son. Baboo’s father is also well portrayed. He brings a sincerity to the few emotional moments with Baboo that is sadly lacking in the rest of the film.

That first hour also lacks originality. Especially the music is alternately reminiscent of a standard romantic comedy, a standard horror movie and a standard action movie. The music may well fit the scene, but it distracts from what’s going on in it. Visually there is little else to experience and a maximum of one in five jokes is neither hackneyed nor predictable.

The third act is a bit more original in music and draws attention through more interesting sets and costumes. The resort’s chic Western interior provides a welcome contrast to the glitz and glamor of the Bollywood pageant, preparations for which are in full swing. As a comedy, the film still doesn’t quite work, but the density of successful jokes is increasing somewhat: one in four, and even one in three at the end.

The tensions between the characters run a bit too, which adds a bit more urgency to the story. The question then is not what will happen, but how that will affect the success of the plan to steal the necklace. For example, it slowly builds up that Leila starts to like Ticky instead of Baboo. Therefore, that a conflict arises between the two children is not a surprise, but the question of exactly when this conflict will occur is pressing enough to generate a bit of tension.

Kings of Mulberry Street: Let Love Reign can be seen in Netflix.