Straight off, debutant writer-director Vipul Vig’s Rahu Ketu is likable for its resolute avoidance of all vulgarity. In fact, this is one of the most reverent bromance comedies in recent times. There is no end to wickedness in the plot and characters. But no one whispers an improper word,no middle fingers are show to decorum.There are no bananas in any frame.
Varun Sharma (overacting all the way, and not his fault) and the underrated Pulkit Samrat play Rahu and Ketu, two fantasy figures from mythology, brought to life by a sly seer (Piyush Mishra) and his pliable pupil (Manu Rishi Chadha). Mishra and Chadha try to make sense of their half-baked roles but eventually give up.
Rahu and Ketu are joint anti-corruption bureau. What ensues is their adventures in blunderland, some of them mildly amusing, the rest…oh well!
Having given life to two incorrigible blunderers, the writer-director is unable to provide them with clever lines to sustain the duo’s interest level. Pulkit Samrat, especially, finds his character pushed into a corner with no hope of rescue. His partner in crime, Varun Sharma, makes his presence felt with smarmy lines delivered loudly.
The character I most enjoyed for its unfettered morality was Meena Taxi, played by Shalini Pandey, who was once Arjun Reddy’s bullied girlfriend. Here, she turns the tables on the heroes and other male characters by slapping and pushing them around. I wonder why Pandey insists on looking and speaking like Alia Bhatt’s thirst cousin.
The Himachal setting is soothing, especially when compared with the noisy shenanigans which seem to be going nowhere we would like to go. Towards the midpoint, the laughs cease completely. And we are left looking at a screenplay that thinks with every part except the brain.
The funny stuff, if you are still interested, shows up whenever the devilishly talented Amit Sial shows up as a corrupt cop. Chunky Pandey, as a Russian mobster, is sporadically funny. Ditto the film. Rahu Ketu is not a washout. It is original and sassy, in the mood for the unexpected when it wants to be, settling for the smirks when the laughs die down.
This is the kind of comedy where Varun Sharma starts snoring before he goes to sleep, and Shalini Pandey asks a havildar she hardly knows to get cosy with her under a blanket. And the Chunky character insists on addressing Deepak as ‘Deefuk’.
Rahu Ketu reminded me of the 1978 film of that name, where Premnath and Pran played the two heroes. Pulkit and Varun are no match for the original. But they try.
