A laugh riot

Sheetal

Call it an aspiration post ‘Dil Chahta Hai’, but we have all dreamt of at least one Goa trip with an all-girl/boy gang. Writer-director Kunal Kemmu has turned that aspiration into reality and immersed it in an over-dramatic fictional story of three friends: Dodo, Pinku and Ayush. Despite making multiple plans during school and college, they could never make it to Goa. They finally land in the beach city as adults, only to get caught in the mish-mash of drugs, gangsters and the police and are unable to escape from there.

Out of the three, Pratik Gandhi, who plays Pinku, displays superb acting skills. Pinku is a ‘fattu’ who suddenly becomes a brave, decisive macho man under the influence of cocaine (consumed twice, accidentally). His antics lead to many a funny sequence. Divyendu’s (Dodo) comic capabilities keep his act and the film together till the climax. Avinash Tiwary, who plays Ayush Gupta, and Nora Fatehi provide the glam quotient. Remo D’Souza as Doctor Danny is the surprise package.

The camaraderie among the three friends translates well on screen, as does the chemistry between veteran actors Chhaya Kadam (Kanchan Komdi) and Upendra Limaye (Mendoza) as gangsters. The husband and wife angle to their rivalry boosts the plot and Chhaya’s swagger seems natural enough.

This comedy-of-errors script is a laugh riot. Kemmu as a writer should get more credit than as the film’s director for making such a wonderful film. Kemmu has set a benchmark in his directorial debut. It is a family entertainer with great background music. His cameo appearance as a drug addict giving them the chemical gummies is quite metaphoric because that’s when the music picks up, as does the film. The hilarious punchlines leave you gasping for breath while laughing. This engaging watch gets a tad dramatic at times, but doesn’t take away the fun.

Kemmu’s debut project offers a breath of fresh air in the comedy genre and deserves to be watched with friends and family.