[6] The film stars Ranveer Singh[7][8] and Varun Sharma in dual roles alongside Pooja Hegde, Jacqueline Fernandez, Johny Lever, Sanjay Mishra.
Cirkus is a spin-off to 2017 film Golmaal Again, an adaptation of the 1982 Hindi film Angoor, which itself was based on William Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors, and marks the final collaboration to date between Shetty and Farhad Samji, the latter of whom did not return to work on Shetty's subsequent Cop Universe projects Indian Police Force and Singham Again.
[17] In 1944, Dr. Roy Jamnadas, who is working on the theory of nature vs nurture, separates two sets of identical twins he finds at the doorstep of the orphanage he runs and gives them up for adoption to two different families, based in two different cities.
Roy 2 and Joy 2 come to Ooty to buy a tea estate and there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding as people mistake them for the other pair of twins.
Rohit Shetty had originally planned to team up with Shah Rukh Khan for a remake of the 1982 film, Angoor.
[25] In mid-October 2020, it was confirmed that Pooja Hegde and Jacqueline Fernandez will play the female leads in the film, in the maiden collaboration with both Shetty and Singh.
[34] [35] Few Russian artists with elaborate outfits were spotted outside the sets and their looks included coloured wigs and extravagant headgears.
[42] The score is composed by Amar Mohile and the songs were written by Devi Sri Prasad, Badshah and Lijo George-DJ Chetas.
The biggest strength of his execution is that he doesn't let the film turn confusing though there are far too many characters, including the ones that look similar.
[57] Maharashtra Times' Abhishek Khude rated it by 2/5, wrote 'The atmosphere, background in this film looked fake, it have theme of Golmaal Again (2017), Singh did acting in his typical one tone, Shetty tried to generate humour by actor's wired body movements and tasteless dialogues, few scenes are humorous, probably kids will enjoy this picture.
[58] Shubra Gupta of The Indian Express, rated it by 1.5/5, wrote 'Ranveer Singh-Rohit Shetty film is surprisingly blah', Cirkus have cliche.
She saw similar elements which Rohit Shetty everytime insert in his films to create humour from his multiple editions of Golmaal onwards, this film have over-the-top hilarity - Shetty style, in most part of it humour gags does not landed, some places it gives lectures to audience.
[59] The Hindu's reviewer Anuj Kumar, wrote in his review article that, Rohit Shetty used lots of Bollywood clichés such as Kali pahadi, Rai Sahab but nothing created laughter, Jacqueline Fernandez- Puja Hegde looked like this film's glittering sets that shines a lot but add less worth, Cirkus is reckless ruckus in Ooty.
Jadhav have prominent role, Fizzle generated when Lever appeared, he have 2-3 laugh moments the way Sanjay Mishra have in it.
[5] ABP News reviewer expressed that, Ranveer Singh, Varun Sharma's both characters are serious in this film and felt responsibility to generate humour was on Siddharth Jadhav- Sanjay Mishra, felt like supporting actors trying to do forced comedy, this film's plot is based on mistaken identity of two twin brother's set.
of Deccan Herald rated it by 1.5 out of 5 stars, wrote it is an ultra-boring film, opposite to its name it does not have any memorable circus acts, it have terrible jokes, gaudy colour tone which strain your eyes.
[63] Rediff reviewed this film and rated it 2 out of 5 stars, wrote "There are some occasional jumping acts here and there by jokers, and then the protagonist just holds two cables and passes current through his body.
"[65] Rating the film 2/5, India Today critic Tushar Joshi wrote, "The issue with Cirkus is that it feels outdated.
The VFX in some scenes looks amateurish and the music, unlike Shetty's previous films, is a big downer.
He added, "In Cirkus, the writing is average and the only time the film picks tempo is when the supporting cast delivers.
"[66] Monika Rawal of Hindustan Times in her review said, Cirkus is an awaful film, it have no comedy, Rohit Shetty appears to stuck in days of Golmaal (2006), there are endless characters in it and everyone did overacting, Ranveer Singh tried to be funny but his jokes did not land.