REVIEW 186: GO GOA GONE

Release date:	May 10, 2013
Director:	Raj Nidimoru & Krishna DK
Cast: Language:	Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Saif Ali Khan, Anand Tiwari, Puja Gupta Hindi

The first half of Go Goa Gone is like nothing we’ve seen before from Bollywood. Not just because zombies are a novelty in a Hindi film or because Saif Ali Khan delivers a neat pre-credits anti-smoking, anti-drugs, pro-Goa message. The joy of watching the pre-interval portion of GGG is that it’s h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s. Kunal Khemu and Vir Das play Hardik and Luv – colleagues, flatmates and best buds whose laziness at office belies their frenzied 24-hour pursuit of cigarettes, booze, drugs, sex and no work. The third angle of this male bonding triangle is Bunny, their straight-laced friend who is persuaded to let them accompany him on a work trip to Goa. Once there, their life spirals out of control due to a set of circumstances involving a rave party, an Indian-pretending-to-be-a-Russian-Mafioso Boris (you know this already from the trailer), a new drug, a girl called Luna and the walking undead. Don’t ask for details of the story or you’ll be crying about spoilers.

Kunal and Vir are a wonderful choice for Hardik and Luv. Their chemistry is excellent. Kunal in particular grabs the opportunity provided by GGG to show the industry what they’re missing by not giving him more films with bigger, better-written roles. In GGG he manages to deliver the film’s stand-out performance, eliciting laughs with his seemingly effortless dialogue delivery and impeccable timing. Vir is funny too. Former Miss India Universe Puja Gupta looks sweet and shows more spark here as Luna than she did in F.A.L.T.U. Anand Tiwari is well-suited to the role of boring Bunny, though after Aisha followed by Jo Dooba So Paar, It’s Love In Bihar and now this film, it would be good to see him in a role that shows us more range (we know he’s got it since we’ve seen his ads).

Saif is the curious element in the cast. Considering that he’s the marquee name in the film and the co-producer of GGG, it’s interesting that he has settled for a supporting role. An ego-less producer is great for any film; what’s not so great is that Boris is indifferently written and given the least appealing lines, which is hard to ignore even when the actor seems to be having fun. If the reasoning behind casting Saif was that he is a huge box-office draw, it might have been better instead to do what actor-producers Aamir Khan and John Abraham did for Delhi Belly and Vicky Donor. Just saying.

GGG’s co-directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK – who have co-written the film with Sita Menon – are in fine fettle in the first half (except for that one predictable joke about Hardik’s name that you will no doubt guess even before I wrap up this sentence; and the inexplicability of the likes of Hardik and Luv not being sure what zombies are). Over and above anything any review might say, the team deserves a medal for thinking out of the box: zombies are rare fare in Bollywood, a zom-com (zombie-comedy) is unknown; this one cleverly places zombies in a drug-ridden scenario where glazed eyes are part of the landscape anyway; and it features dialogues that had me howling with laughter before the clock struck interval. Somehow though, they seem not to have known how to take the story forward post-interval or what more to do with those walking undead. The make-up on the creatures is fine, they are thankfully not visually repulsive like most Hollywood zombies and they are genuinely scarey in many places, but it’s hard not to ask what purpose they serve beyond a point. That’s when the thinness of the storyline begins to show. Was it lack of confidence in the efficacy of the screenplay that made the writers spell out a say-no-to-drugs message right at the end from the mouth of one of the characters? Hey, we got the zombie metaphor already. Did you have to say it again in black and white?

Go Goa Gone is particularly disappointing because it comes right after Raj and Krish’s brilliant 2011 film Shor In The City. Still, if you can handle the relatively stretched and sinking second half, then it’s got to be said that the first half is definitely worth seeing and even the second half offers occasional scares and laughs. It’s not often that we get a Hindi film with lyrics that go, “Khoon choosne tu aaya khoon choosne / Bloody khooni Monday tu aaya khoon choosne”. It’s even tougher to find a Hindi film hero who wants to launch a Bhartiya Joint Party. But most uncommon of all would be a Hindi film in which the two male leads are skirt-chasers yet the film itself is not sexist… In the midst of all the light-heartedness, there’s even a nice little lesson woven in throughout GGG about the importance of respecting women; and another about standing by friends. Wish it had not gone slip slidin’ away.

Rating (out of five): **3/4

CBFC Rating (India):	A
Running time:	116 minutes

Photograph courtesy: http://www.gogoagonethefilm.com