Bhool Chuk Maaf: A decently purposeful light drama
What comprises a good deed? Is it as simple as feeding the cows, or even the poor, or lighting diyas around sacred trees? Of course, before we come to the heart of the film, it begins on a light-hearted note, even beats around the bush, and only then arrives at what it intends to convey.
Love birds Ranjan (Rajkummar Rao) and Titli (Wamiqa Gabbi) have eloped. Only before they actually run away, Titli decides to flit back. They return home. No, hell doesn’t break loose. Parents, even in Varanasi, are not that unreasonable. Only the girl’s father puts in a caveat, “Find a government job within two months if you want to marry my daughter”. And you get the crux of the storyline. In the hero ‘buying’ a government job and finding his way to ‘happily ever after’ lies the rest of the drama.
Coming from Maddock Films, messaging is a given. Since our hero has already committed a non-heroic act, his eventual reversal is both imminent and predictable. Only the film does not delve into job scams, the dismal reality of our country. Raging unemployment is only hinted at, and even Bhagwan (Sanjay Mishra), who engineers the job-for-money deal, isn’t the villain of the piece.
The story, written and directed by Karan Sharma, employs some deft touches to drive home the point. Besides, Sharma uses an interesting, fantastical device. Ranjan is caught in a time loop, which could well be the karmic cycle. Since he has not completed his vow to Mahadev after fulfillment of his mannat, he is stuck on the same date, causing him much consternation and frustration. Of course, the catch lies in how we describe the ‘nek kaam’ which he had vowed to undertake. Ah, only if the definition of a noble job was so easy. After all, lest we forget, the means he has employed to realise his dreams are rather unprincipled. Goodness can’t be a superficial act; rather, it calls for personal sacrifice. In the creation of the character of Hamid Ansari (Aakash Makhija), the film makes another pertinent point; even if it is optics, it is so needed in today’s divisive times.
While the romcom aims to transform into a meaningful statement, Rajkummar Rao morphs from a clueless lover to a righteous human being with ease. Though his small-towner bumbling act is not novel, he carries the film on his shoulders. What is more commendable is how he changes expressions in the blink of an eye, one minute docile, the very next aggressive, now hassled, now calm. Wamiqa Gabbi, as his beloved Titli, plays the spirited lass with verve and affectation too, as required of the part. Among the cameos, Raghubir Yadav stands out and Sanjay Mishra too gets a moment or two to ‘speechify’.
Yes, the film does turn a little too preachy in the finale and wears its heart a bit too upfront, but there is no denying the heart is in the right place. Only if the comic tenor too had found its groove… In the existing tone, it’s only mildly entertaining, and often grating. Toilet humour makes it more banal than funny. The leeway created for humour does give birth to fleeting amusement but the fun quotient is never fully optimised. Just as Rao’s Ranjan says, “Meri samasya ko bataane ke liye alag alag vakya ka prayog kyon kar rahe ho” (why are you trying to sum up my problem in different lines), despite some clever interjections, things do get trapped in the cycle of repetition.
If you are ready to forgive the film’s shortcomings (‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’), including an unwanted item song, you may opt for this caper, which is no laugh-riot but is decently purposeful.
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