Bhool Chuk Maaf review: Haldi, Humor and Hiccups

Bhool Chuk Maaf review: Haldi, Humor and Hiccups

Beyond the bright spots and fallacies of ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’, something which constantly perked me up was Rajkummar Rao’s impeccable verve and sense of comedy that clearly becomes the saving grace of the film offering a moral base with a faltered presentation.

Bhool Chuk Maaf movie review

The humour imbibed in the chaos and a time loop that his Ranjan Tiwari (Rajkummar Rao), a slacker in the ghats of Benaras, is thrown into, is a clear source of dopamine. You enjoy his exasperation and frustration when he sees the large bowl of Haldi (turmeric), and exclaiming “Ab Kya Marinate kar dogi humein”!

Plunged into a countdown to marriage with his love, Titli Mishra (played by Wamiqa Gabbi) and desperately forced to secure a Sarkari Naukri before that, he does something which pushes him into a bizarre time reset – a malfunction which draws eminently from one of the iconic Hollywood comedies of 90s, ‘The Ground Hog Day’, and its religious allegory, which baffles his  surrounding  family members equally – comprising a pickle entrepreneur mom (Seema Pahwa), his grumpy father (Raghuveer Yadav), and a slacker uncle (Ishtiyak Khan).

‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ is blessed with a terrific and breezy first half – the pace, the humor and the colourful vignettes of vibrant Benaras lend an amazing synchrony to Karan Sharma’s directorial and writing prowess. Karan, who directed some parts of ‘Maharani’ and wrote ‘Mind the Malhotras’ forays on to the large screen and exhibits nuanced sensibilities with a script that combines comedy with a dope of conscience.

But the film suffers the curse of the second half – its muddled, hassled, convenient and less convincing, almost derailing into a facile dramatic climax but salvaged by the wonderful Rajkummar Rao, who navigates chaos and confusion, evolves as a morally upright character with a remarkable finesse. Blessed with dramatic drifts, Rao’s flair for comedy offers plenty laughs overcoming Wamiqa’ s deficiency for sharp humour. Gabbi, although saddled with a flawed character displaying spurts of immaturity, makes it up with her razor-sharp, uninhibited flush of words.

The supporting ensemble – Seema Pahwa, Sanjay Mishra, Raghuveer Yadav, Ishtiyaq, Zakir Hussain, and the female brigade (Anubha Fatehpuria as Gabbi’s mom, Pragati Mishra as Keri, Rao’s sister) become effective agents in the fleshing out of the narrative.