Go Goa Gone — so close yet so far
- Directed by: Raj and D. K.
- Directed by: Raj and D. K.
- Cast: Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Saif Ali Khan, Pooja Gupta, Anand Tiwari
- What will it remind you of? — PS and PC games such as Left 4 Dead
- In a nutshell, should you see it? — If you arent afraid of experimentation and tons of visual violence, Yes
GGG makes a crackling start with conventionally offensive language and sexual innuendos. Hardik (Khemu) and Luv (Vir) suck you right in with their engaging characters and brilliant performances. The turn of events is such that Hardik — the offensive, bindaas guy, Luv — the yearning for love, self-improvement-seeking gentleman and Bunny (Tewari) — the responsible, supporting-no-good-friends guy land up in Goa wanting to have the time of their lives and end up at a rave party arranged by the stereotypical Russian Mafia. The drug being consumed at the party turns everyone except the leads into Zombies, making the rest of the film a fight for survival. It is at this point that the film loses steam, not really knowing what to do with the wonderfully established premise and the second half of the film ends up being a cat and mouse chase. In fact, it feels so aimless towards the end that in the second-last scene, the characters actually discuss “So what have we learnt from all of this?”, almost as if to tell the audiences that the movie is nearing its end.
Directors Raj and D. K. make the perfect choice of not going entirely into horror and keeping it a “Zom-Com”. That is why you dont feel too repulsed at the visually graphic violence, nor shit-scared at the wonderful make-up of the zombies. But alas, one wishes the directors knew what to do with the film in its second half.
Kunal Khemu is the brightest spot in the film with a brilliant performance. He lives his character, looks good and is the sunshine element in the film. Saif Ali Khan has so many things going for him, his look, his accent, his aggression but a poorly etched out character leaves you unsure of what you should be thinking about his character — Boris. Vir Das is his usual talented self but is perhaps getting a little stereotyped in pitiable-haunted-from-all-sides characters. One wishes he got better roles that did justice to his intellect and talent. Anand Tiwari (the guy from the TATA Jaago Re ads) is underplayed and appropriate, and he also gets to voice a rather accurate dialogue: “Tum dono toh hero ho, dekhna sab se pehle main hi marunga”. Once again, a total boys film, it leaves ex Miss India Universe Pooja Gupta being the usual eye-candy and being sought after by almost all of the male leads.
The music is apt and foot-tapping with ‘Slowly slowly’ being its highlight but yes, the way-more-than-usual anti-cigarette warnings before and during the film do get irritating after a point.
Definitely a new, interesting experience for the Indian cinema viewer but Rajeev Masand described this film perfectly when he said “So much in this film is good until it all goes nowhere”.