Bhool Chuk Maaf review: A tiring comedy where time loops, laughs lag and Rajkummar Rao hits refresh again

Bhool Chuk Maaf movie review: Rajkummar Rao's affinity for small-town comedies continues in this time-loop film that lacks chemistry and cohesive humour.

Bhool Chuk Maaf movie review
Director: Karan Sharma
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Wamiqa Gabbi
Star Rating: ★★.5

Bhool Chuk Maaf movie review: Wamiqa Gabbi and Rajkummar Rao play a to-be married couple.

Rajkummar Rao’s love for small-town comedies runs so deep, I wouldn’t be surprised if his GPS refuses to navigate beyond the city limits of Varanasi, Rishikesh, or Chanderi anymore.

This one’s a time loop drama. Ranjan Tiwari (Raj) is in love with Titli (Wamiqa Gabbi) and they can’t wait to get married. But her father has a condition: get a government job, or get lost. In comes Bhagwaan Das (Sanjay Mishra) who fixes government jobs for money. And voila, it’s done. But now Ranjan finds himself stuck, re-living the day of his haldi again. And again.. He tries to tell people around him, but nothing comes out of it. Why, what, how- watch the film to find out the rest.

Director Karan Sharma’s story takes forever (time loop, you see!) to get to the point. The entire first half actually. The dialogues by Karan are sharp in places, but the screenplay seems uneven, barely salvaged by the comic timing of Rajkummar. We have seen the same setup in so many of Maddock’s (production house) previous films like Mimi, Luka Chuppi, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya- even actors have been repeated. And worse, there is not enough chemistry between the family members.

Post the interval, when the plot is firmly established, Bhool Chuk Maaf picks up pace. But the humour still doesn’t flow naturally. Raj’s patented humour-in-frustrated- expression is beginning to lose some of it’s initial charm. It’s working, as of now. Bhool Chuk Maaf’s biggest bhool is it tries to be what it should not be- a social message drama. A monologue on good people/bad people in the climax had me holding my head. The last time I checked, I was sitting there for a comedy film. And that’s the problem with most films these days: the pretence to be meaningful. Why can’t we expect just pure comedy from comedy films? Did Hera Pheri give us a long speech on how wrong it is to cheat people of their money? Did Golmaal tell us how taking advantage of a visually impaired person is morally wrong?

Performance report card

Rajkummar needs to snap out of his small town fascination, and fast. Wamiqa is a relatively fresh face, and grasps the ‘papa ki pari’ hook well. Sanjay Mishra and Raghubeer Yadav fare well.

Tanishk Baghchi’s music is okay when viewed in context on screen, but doesn’t stand out.

Overall, Bhool Chuk Maaf, a time-loop comedy, ends up stuck in a loop of its own clichés. The only thing harder to escape than a time loop is Rajkummar’s contract with small-town scripts. It tries to be a comedy, flirts with a social message, and ends up being the cinematic equivalent of a WhatsApp forward — familiar, repetitive, and mildly amusing at best.