The most successful actor of the year finally hit a wall in Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, a film that is so tedious and unfunny that even Rajkummar Rao couldn’t save it. Loaded with sexual innuendos and a joke (that doesn’t land) in every other sentence, Raaj Shaandilyaa’s film is more tacky than funny.
Set in 1997 in Rishikesh when CD players were still a thing and rotary phones still hadn’t disappeared, Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video starts with Vicky (Rao), a mehendi artist, and Vidya (Triptii Dimri), a doctor (who never seems to go to work), tricking their families (with a hairbrained plan) to get them married. As the title of the film suggests, the couple makes a video on their honeymoon in Goa, and of course it goes missing, starting a wild goose chase all across Rishikesh.
Into this mess comes a horde of other characters who remain caricatures of stereotypes — a conflicting set of loud parents played by Tikku Talsania, Rajesh Bedi and a wasted Archana Puran Singh, who chews paan masala throughout the film. Then there is Vicky’s elder sister Chanda (Mallika Sherawat), the hottie who runs away with men… to find work, but of course the woman has to swear that she is pure for anyone to take her seriously. Vijay Raaz, in the world’s worst wig ever, is a police inspector who is a terrible boss to his subordinates and smitten by Chanda. There is the other Chanda, the housemaid who is undesirable because she is fat and, of course, because she is a servant. Then there are the goons (two of the lackeys are called Sunil and Shetty and speak with the same drawl), the petty thieves and corrupt perverted politicians.
Rao and Dimri are individually great and have very good chemistry, which is one of the very few things that works for the film, but neither is pushed to the limits. Rao can now play the small-town guy with his eyes closed, so this is hardly a challenge for him. Dimri, who should have been the centre of a film about a sex video going missing, doesn't get much to do. In fact, while the film does touch upon the distress and anguish that such an incident can cause, it focuses on it too little. When she does lose it after hearing about the video, the issue is suddenly solved and we move on to yet another elaborately set up joke that doesn’t land. The ones that do, have everything to do with the actors’ ability and nothing to do with the writing, which is choppy and boring.
The nail in the coffin (pun intended) is the reference to Stree, Rao’s hit film franchise, with a red sari-clad evil spirit. It is absolutely superficial and unnecessary. The same can be said of the film, because despite the monologue on protecting women and women’s equality, Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video feels superficial and at the end of the day unnecessary.
