If Dil Chahta Hai set friendship goals for an entire generation of people, Madgaon Express, from its producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, shows us that sometimes a comedy film is just a comedy film with no other intention than to make you laugh.
Actor Kunal Kemmu’s directorial venture, which sees three childhood friends get on their dream trip to Goa, doffs its hat to, draws from and builds on many comedy films, from inane ones like Welcome and Dhamaal to cult favourites like Kemmu’s own Go Goa Gone. So there is nothing new that Madgaon Express offers. But amidst heavy biopics and films with social messaging, just laughs drawn from absurd excess feels like a breath of fresh air.
Dodo (Divyenndu Sharma), Pinku (Pratik Gandhi) and Ayush (Avinash Tiwary) have been dreaming about a trip to Goa with “booze, beach, babes and babes in bikinis” since high school but their plans have been thwarted over and over again. Pinku and Ayush move on, leading successful lives abroad, while the no-good Dodo lives in a one-bedroom flat with his father and resorts to a fake photoshopped existence on social media. When Ayush and Pinku announce their plans to come to Mumbai to stay with Dodo, the desperate man makes plans for Goa to avoid getting caught in his lie. A trip on Madgaon Express and a mistaken bag-swap later, the three are caught up in hijinks that go from crazy to crazier — drugs, overdoses, gangster feuds, cops and more.
What works best for Madgaon Express are its three leads, who turn out solid performances with not just great comic timing but also great physical comedy. Of them Pratik is the standout, his personality switching from meek hypochondriac to Singham-level machoness every time he gets drugged (accidentally of course). When he asks us to watch him roar, you can’t help but listen to him. They are good at the emotional bits as well, conveying the changing friendship with great nuance.
The supporting cast of Upendra Limaye as the gangster Mendoza (who is called everything from Mandakini to Mandolin by the trio) and Chhaya Kadam as his one-time love interest and now rival gangster Kanchan Kombdi elevate the film beyond mundane. In fact, the film actually livens up once they come into the picture. Kunal, who is also credited with writing, shows up in a very Kunal Kemmu cameo that is a riot. Nora Fatehi does get more to do than item numbers but fails to make an impression.
Most of the jokes land well, too, whether they are situational or physical. One of the funniest moments comes even before the guys board the Madgaon Express, when Dodo, in order to convince the other two to make the journey in a non-AC compartment, launches into a speech about the glory of India and all things Indian and every passerby drops whatever they are doing to listen to him with rapt attention, while the Lakshya theme plays in the background. While there are many references to Dil Chahta Hai, the title track playing as the friends gear up to make a trip to Goa, only for it to fade out as we find the protagonists in a hospital is hilarious. As is the lunch-induced afternoon siesta that allows the captives to escape Mendoza and his goons.
What might not work for everyone though is the very male humour of it all. While it might be funny for some to see Dodo push Nora forward when Mendoza asks for the ‘maal’, it really doesn’t make you laugh. And there is very little female presence. Apart from Nora, we never even see Pinku’s girlfriend and Ayush’s love interest turns out to be an internet ghost. If only Kanchan Kombdi and her gang of sari-wearing, gun-toting women got more to do!
Madgaon Express might not be a laugh riot like the zany Go Goa Gone! or have the emotional heft of the iconic Dil Chahta Hai, but it does spell a good time even if you forget it the minute you are out of the hall.
