Aspiring to be both a David Dhawan no-holds-barred comedy and an Abbas-Mustan twist-a-minute thriller, Govinda Naam Mera ends up being neither. In fact, this film — that has wisely opted for a streaming release instead of potentially staring at empty seats in the theatre — borrows so much from here, there and just about everywhere, that every frame of it gives you a been there, seen that, heard this feel. To put it simply, Govinda Naam Mera is one whole deja-vu experience.
Or should we say ‘deja-chu?’ For those familiar with the oft-repeated joke, that’s precisely what Govinda Waghmare (Vicky Kaushal, in what is essentially his first out-and-out Bolly potboiler) is. Govinda is a background dancer who calls himself a choreographer. His no-nonsense wife Gauri (Bhumi Pednekar) treats him like scum and wants out of the marriage, but not before extracting her pound of flesh. Govinda has a girlfriend Sukku (Kiara Advani), a fellow dancer. He’s also embroiled in a long-drawn court case with his stepbrother over the rundown property Govinda currently lives in. His debtors’ list is even longer, including the local cop Javed (Daya Shetty, of kicking doors open in CID fame), who puts a gun to his head at every opportunity. In short, Govinda is living on both borrowed time and money.
The first hour of Govinda Naam Mera, streaming on Disney+Hotstar, is so generic and dull that you feel tempted to abandon it every few minutes. Vicky rehashes the language and body language of every tapori you would have watched in a Hindi film before, Kiara’s Sukku is every stereotypical girlfriend badgering her man to divorce his wife and marry her and Bhumi is every nagging, dominant wife Bollywood has ever seen. Not to mention the fact that Renuka Shahane — playing Govinda’s mother on a wheelchair — puts in an act that should not only offend every paraplegic out there, but also shames someone who is otherwise a fine actor. I don’t know what prompted an otherwise ‘woke’ Renuka to do this... I just hope the money was good.
To be honest, Govinda Naam Mera rests on a fairly intriguing premise. A con game carried around a disputed property is actually a smart way to ground the story in its milieu, given that in Mumbai, owning one’s own square feet is what is everyone’s lifelong aspiration and true currency. Director Shashank Khaitan — the man behind the Dulhania films, as well as the more heavy Dhadak — primes his characters and situations for both laughs and life lessons, but things don’t really land well in Govinda Naam Mera. There is always something missing, and the film consistently projecting Govinda as a down-on-his-luck struggler gets lazy after a while.
Govinda Naam Mera hurtles along on its unremarkable journey, until a murder angle comes in in what we think would have been an interval block if the film had made it to the theatres. From then on, this black comedy metamorphoses into a thriller, its last hour exemplifying the kind of too-many-characters and far-too-many-situations chaos that takes place in a Priyadarshan comedy. Also, going ahead with a twist-a-minute plot a la Abbas-Mustan only works if you either have a compelling plot or an audience willing to suspend disbelief with the promise of a solid payoff. Govinda Naam Mera has neither. The Ocean’s-styled flashback would have also worked better in a more watertight thriller. The end, though predictable, lifts the film a few notches.
That’s not to say that Govinda Naam Mera is unwatchable. Parts of the film are done well, both in terms of plot and performance, and honestly, should have found place in a better film.
Vicky, despite a certain awkwardness in unknown territory, pulls off his character well, while the film illustrates how much Kiara — displaying a wide range of emotions and truly coming into her own in Half Two — has improved as an actress. Bhumi, given relatively lesser screen time, shines as the unfeeling vixen.
Govinda Naam Mera is stretched and forgettable, but wouldn’t make for a bad one-time watch. One just hopes that with films releasing directly on streaming again, we get to watch some genuinely good content and not big-screen rejects. Govinda Naam Mera sure feels like the latter.
