Bhool Chuk Maaf

Although the premise had some promise, when peeled, the Maddock Production is any other run-of-the-mill, small-town comedy, once frequented by Ayushmann Khurrana. In the ensemble, you have Seema Pahwa, Raghubir Yadav, and Sanjay Mishra. I was eagerly waiting for Vijay Raaz to show up and complete the comedy quadruple. But even with such an impressive cast, the fun doesn’t flow. Scenes fall flat. Actors talk animatedly, as if cosplaying their own characters from other films. Rajkummar seems like he is stuck in an acting loop, rehashing the same performances he gave in Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video and Stree. Wamiqa has sparks and promise, but she stretches them as soon as she starts to get charming.

Post the interval, when the plot is firmly established, Bhool Chuk Maaf picks up pace. But the humour still doesn’t flow naturally. Raj’s patented humour-in-frustrated- expression is beginning to lose some of it’s initial charm. It’s working, as of now. Bhool Chuk Maaf’s biggest bhool is it tries to be what it should not be- a social message drama. A monologue on good people/bad people in the climax had me holding my head. The last time I checked, I was sitting there for a comedy film. And that’s the problem with most films these days: the pretence to be meaningful. Why can’t we expect just pure comedy from comedy films? Did Hera Pheri give us a long speech on how wrong it is to cheat people of their money? Did Golmaal tell us how taking advantage of a visually impaired person is morally wrong.

It as easily sidles in, and skips out of, problematic issues such as dowry, for laughs, as you wonder more and more what Titli, with at least money and looks going for her, sees in Ranjan – who, she herself points out more than once, has little, if anything, going for him. That could be a story too, as the free-spirited Titli threatens to upset Ranjan’s world, with his mother an enterprising breadwinner with a business in pickles. But just when you are digging into your popcorn, the film takes its most ambitious turn, and stumbling, swerving and somersaulting – even as you wish it would just keep lying down for once – finds a moral centre! There is even a mild stab at communal harmony, while Karan Sharma (also the co-writer) is at it.

A time loop, lots of confusion, a story of faith, a love angle, and the signature small-town humour of Rajkummar Rao - 'Bhool Chuk Maaf' has got everything right on paper. But, nothing seems executed well. The film's idea of a love story is too lopsided and its humour, too crass, for an audience that now has access to world cinema. In 'Bhool Chuk Maaf', neither the time loop nor the love story seems wisely planned. Both are riddled with tons of loopholes and glaring inconsistencies that make it difficult to stay engaged. Oh! And moving on is another problem - because how can we, when the story itself refuses to? It takes over one hour for the film to establish its central conflict, something that the trailer and other promos had already revealed to the audience.