Anupama Chopra's review: Go Goa Gone

A Bollywood zombie comedy -- the idea itself is delicious. Writer-directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK deliver what their zany promos promised, but only for half the film. Post-interval, the film does a zombie on us -- it becomes dead, lumbering and tedious. Anupama Chopra writes.

Go Goa Gone
Direction: Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK
Actors: Saif Ali Khan, Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Anand Tiwary
Rating: **1/2

A Bollywood zombie comedy — the idea itself is delicious. I was really pumped to see Go Goa Gone. Writer-directors Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK deliver what their zany promos promised, but only for half the film. Post-interval, the film does a zombie on us — it becomes dead, lumbering and tedious.

But the first part is absolutely crackling. Our heroes are two deadbeat stoners — Hardik and Luv, played nicely by Kunal Khemu and Vir Das.

These losers are so lazy that they argue for several minutes about who will pick up the remote to change the television channel. The third friend Bunny, played by Anand Tiwary, is a nerdy conscientious type, who seems perpetually traumatized by the other two.

Hardik loses his job. Luv loses his girlfriend. All three end up at a rave party in Goa. The drugs being imbibed here are so powerful that they turn takers into zombies.

Enter Boris, the Russian mafioso played by Saif Ali Khan, who throws the rave, supplies the drugs and then, of course, kills dead people.

Raj, DK and their team of writers keep the gags coming thick and fast. The jokes are twisted, irreverent and very funny — there were several moments in which I laughed out loud.

And then abruptly, the energy deflates like air out a balloon. Once the situation has been set up, the directors seem to run out of ideas.

The plot circles on itself. The group keeps getting attacked by zombies and they keep figuring out ways to escape.

At one point, Luv suggests impersonating zombies — an idea taken from Edgar Wright’s superbly funny zombie movie Shaun of the Dead. But Raj and DK are too clever to steal so Luv mumbles something like: kisi film mein dekha tha.

I think the trouble with Go Goa Gone is too much cleverness and not enough plot.

Post-interval, even the fabulous Boris, a tattooed, blond Russian rockstar from Delhi, starts to feel limp. Which is such a shame — because until then, Go Goa Gone is a gloriously trippy ride.