Rahul Desai
A Supremely Funny Trip to the Movies. Kunal Kemmu’s directorial debut sparkles with hat-tips to a legion of buddy movies, from The Hangover to Dil Chahta Hai. It is very successful at tapping a sense of humour that some of us are too shy to reveal.
Madgaon Express left me with a bellyache – but in the best way possible. The buddy comedy made me laugh so hard for so long that it felt like I was avenging all the years of laughing at unintentionally funny films.
Their failed attempts after high school and college make the dream burn brighter. So in 2015, as full-blown but unfulfilled adults, they make the better-late-than-never dash – except Goa is nothing like the movies, and yet it’s everything like the movies.
A group of Goan gangsters succumb to a post-lunch susegad, leaving their hostages to escape. A don named Mendoza is addressed as everything but his name: Mandakini, Mangola, Madeline. A needy bachelor imagines a musical life montage with the first pretty girl he sees.
If you’ve followed director Kunal Kemmu’s acting career, however, you’ll know the humour is far more diverse and…old-school. Kemmu’s always had great (and underrated) comic timing, and he brings himself to the table with reckless abandon here.
Somehow, most of the jokes land, even when they don’t. It’s a familiar template that often mocks its own familiarity. The casting elevates the material.