Watching
Rajkummar
Rao
and
a
horde
of
talented
veterans
indulge
in
mockery
is
getting
tiresome,
observes
Sukanya
Verma.
It’s
only
fitting
that
Rajkummar
Rao’s
newest
comedy
should
be
about
him
being
stuck
in
a
time
loop
and
unable
to
find
a
breakthrough.
Lately
that’s
how
watching
the
actor
feels
in
one
interchangeable
performance
after
another
wherein
he’s
a
perennially
exasperated
small
town
lad
grappling
with
rom-com
crisis.
A
similar
air
of
déjà
vu
envelops
his
character
Ranjan
Tiwari
in
Karan
Sharma’s
Bhool
Chuk
Maaf
as
well
as
the
viewer
while
beholding
familiar
sights
and
stock.
Only
this
time
the
setting
is
Banaras
teeming
with
visuals
of
ghats,
genda
phools
and
gobar.
Ranjan’s
family
(Raghuvir
Yadav,
Seema
Pahwa)
as
well
as
the
girl
(a
terribly
jarring
Wamiqa
Gabbi
pouting,
cooing
like
a
five
year
old
is
no
one’s
idea
of
fun)
he
wants
to
marry
—
Titli
Mishra’s
(Zakir
Hussain,
Anubha
Fatehpuria)
are
the
typical
garden
variety
of
parents
limited
to
huff
and
puff,
growl,
fawn
and
outrage.
Everybody
fulfils
their
brief
of
a
loud
caricature
hollering
away
for
the
sake
of
puerile
humour
and
play
of
lingo
that
duly
highlights
Bollywood’s
need
to
see
small
town
folk
as
provincial
and
clamorous
at
all
times.
Bhool
Chuk
Maaf
has
a
fairly
well-intentioned
premise
that’s
marred
by
the
monotony
of
its
leading
man’s
overkill
in
the
space
as
well
as
writer-director
Karan
Sharma’s
noisy,
callow
treatment.
When
we
first
meet
Ranjan
and
Titli,
they’re
making
a
bungling
attempt
to
elope
that
ends
in
them
and
their
folks
creating
a
rumpus
inside
the
police
station.
It’s
a
thumbs
down
for
the
love
story
from
the
daddies
since
Ranjan
doesn’t
work
and
Titli
isn’t
expected
to.
Bhool
Chuk
Maaf
cannot
make
up
its
mind
about
Ranjan’s
unhappily
unemployed
and
good-for-nothing
slacker
status
but
finds
it
waggish
when
Titli
pawns
off
her
mum’s
gold
to
fetch
him
money.
This
is
a
romance
between
a
pair
of
low
hanging
fruit
personas
until
the
expectation
of
virtue
begins
to
weigh
one
of
them
down.
The
Groundhog
Day
aspect
of
Bhool
Chuk
Maaf
kickstarts
when
an
employment
fixer
(Sanjay
Mishra)
and
some
divine
intervention
from
‘Mahadev’
comes
to
Ranjan’s
rescue.
Before
he
knows
it,
it’s
haldi
time.
One
experience
of
the
goopy
ritual
is
traumatic
enough,
but
a
lifetime
of
rolling
in
turmeric
batter
is
bound
to
put
anyone
off.
Ranjan
finds
himself
trapped
inside
haldi
day
horror
as
the
order
of
events
grow
unnervingly
recurring
before
him.
But
the
novelty
of
its
‘been
there
done
that’
theme
doesn’t
quite
hit
like
it
ought
to.
What’s
instantly
off
is
how
all
the
characters
flanking
him
fail
to
convey
they’re
going
through
the
motions
for
the
very
first
time.
Instead
of
being
caught
unawares,
they
all
sound
tediously
vexed
by
the
happenings.
Under
Bhool
Chuk
Maaf‘s
hollow,
hee-hee
veneer
is
a
story
trying
to
say
something
pertinent
about
the
absurd
nature
of
ritualistic
pandering
under
the
pretext
of
superstition
and
lack
of
equal
opportunities
when
minorities
and
their
rights
are
quelled
for
the
majority’s
benefit.
The
latter
is
an
awkwardly
manufactured
plot
twist,
a
morality
tale
whose
‘Tiwari-Ansari’
discrimination
sounds
about
right
but
acquires
a
patronising
air
in
Bhool
Chuk
Maaf‘s
cunningly
designed
Hindu
saviour
complex.
It
would
feel
a
lot
more
fair
if
the
hero
wasn’t
awarded
for
doing
the
decent
thing
but
chided
for
his
irresponsibility
that
prioritises
big
fat
weddings
of
the
prospectless
above
everything
else.
Watching
Rao
and
a
horde
of
other
talented
veterans
indulge
in
such
mockery
is
getting
tiresome
now.
We’ve
received
an
apology
in
the
title.
May
his
next
make
amends
too.
Bhool
Chuk
Maaf
Review
Rediff
Rating:
