The movie opens with a crazy hilarious song from Chiranjeevi’s Kondaveeti Donga (a Telugu version of Michael Jackson’s famous zombie video song ‘Thriller’) and that pretty much sets the mood of the entire movie. Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K. give us our first zombie flick which we can be truly proud of in Go Goa Gone.
Like a true zom-com, Go Goa Gone doesn’t have a very particularly complex storyline. Hardik (Kunal Khemu) and Luv (Vir Das) two perpetual stoners hit rock bottom when one loses his job and the other his girlfriend. Looking for a break they both feel they deserve, Hardik and Luv join their third friend, the simpleton Bunny (Anand Tiwari of Jaago Re ad fame) to his business trip to Goa. Of course, their plan is simple. To get wasted on booze, drugs and girls. When they get invited to an exclusive rave party by Luna (Puja Gupta), they know it’s their ultimate trump card to get high. And they do, until they realize that the people they partied with last night have all turned into blood thirsty zombies. And it’s up to one of the Russian mafia Boris (Saif Ali Khan) – or Barees as he calls himself – to get all of them safely out of the island. Because Boris, you see, can ‘Keel dead people’!
Baring Ramsay movies and Luke Kenny’s dismal Rise of the Zombies, zombies have pretty much evaded Bollywood. So while we had bhoot, preth, chudails and daayans, no zombies made it to our 70mm screens. That’s why it’s amazing that Raj and Krishna have come up a flick so funny and so hilarious, that even though we have seen the likes of Zombieland and Shaun Of The Dead, the desi characters provide a continuous stream of rib tickling scenes that is very rare for a Bollywood fare. Though people are well acquainted with zombies, the director duo very smartly tell the uninitiated about what zombies are through a conversation with among the friends. The star of the movie are without doubt the crazy funny dialogues (Raj, Krishna, Sita Menon and even Khemu). It’s great that a lot of the dialogues that sound funny in English are kept in English and not forcefully translated. With a storyline that becomes a bit monotonous and predictable in the second half, it’s these liners and the performances which keep the movie afloat.
Talking of performances, Bollywood has always been good with bromances and the ‘teen tigada kaam bigada’ concept never fails to entertain. In GGG, Kunal Khemu stands out with his easy natural portrayal of the Casanova Hardik. True, he gets the best lines in the movie as well but then his timing is so impeccable and natural that you wonder where he has been so many years. This movie will definitely make you want to see more of him. For Vir Das, comedy is no stranger and he plays Luv with ease. Luv is pretty much like his previous character Arup from Delhi Belly which is why you often keep waiting for Vir to provide just a little bit novelty in his character. No wonder then, that Anand manages to over shadow him. With not much to say, Anand still manages to make you laugh with his goofy character.
Another actor who leaves you impressed is Saif. Saif’s peroxide haired Boris doesn’t exactly have the biggest screen time but Saif seems completely at ease with it. In an industry where few big stars have to guts to take up characters which are not the leads, Saif has done something truly commendable. And with those liners and the crazy accent, he makes sure that we will remember our first zombie hunter for a long time. Puja who was last seen in F.A.L.T.U does her part of being the eye candy with ease.
Like the movie, the music is crazy and wacky and thankfully doesn’t slow the movie. Krishna and Raj ensure that the movie does not fall into the typical Bollywood trappings of song, dance, romance. It takes great effort to be sure that the scenes bordering on absurdity are intentionally funny with the audience laughing with the characters and not at them and the director duo always manage to stay within that thin line. The gory stuff may be less and the movie is not that scary but the directors have managed to take a genre totally alien to what is dished out to us and make it into something that we would love. Hopefully, the other filmmakers would take a clue and have the guts to try out something new.
Go Goa Gone is not without loopholes but the constant stream of funny dialogues and hilarious performances make this a truly entertaining and enjoyable flick. Don’t miss this one.
