The underlying layer of Bhool Chuk Maaf boasts of a similar satire of a Priyadarshan Film from the early 2000s. The protagonists Ranjan (Rajkummar Rao) and Titli (Wamiqa Gabbi) are deeply in love, even as the former is jobless and not earning a single penny. The commentary here is on the sorry situation of the youth that are basically jobless, a fact to which the young couple turn a blind eye to while eloping. Soon being caught and confessing their love for each other to their parents, Ranjan is put forth a challenge – Find a job within 2 months and then marry Titli, or forget her altogether! And thus begins Ranjan’s quest along with his chums Kishan (Ishtiyak Khan) and Hari (Dheerendra Gautam) to get himself a job.

The drama in the first hour typically hinges on a frequent bout of high-pitch small-town comedy that you would associate with films like Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017) or even Bala (2019). But the reasons why these films previously worked wasn’t the high-pitch tone but the situations that the characters find themselves in, that automatically results in frequent bouts of comedy. And that is exactly where the writing suffers here – the situations are generic and just not funny at all! In fact the ‘Mele-Babu-Ne-Taana-Taaya’ kind of romance between Ranjan and Titli resembles a literal Gen-Z lingo – ‘Nibba and Nibbi’, something that wasn’t cute but more on the annoying side. The issue with the comedy here remained something very specific – it was forced as opposed to organically making its way in the drama. The situation was serious, and hence, the tone needed to be more satirical rather than loud, something where a film like Hera Pheri (2000) scored so well. The plight of the characters was enough to exploit its humour, with the situations being an add-on. Unfortunately, the to and fro sequences of Ranjan having to arrange an amount for his job, before completely making a U-turn and later undoing that very conflict, was a sign that the writing wasn’t clear on what it wished to be presented as.

One of the main reasons why the drama did not work was the main concept of the time-loop. In films like Predestination (2014) and Source Code (2011), there was a scientific logic to the proceedings as opposed to a suspension of disbelief. Now just imagine how exciting this could have been – a scientific explanation given to the concept of a time-loop in a town that essentially is known for its soothing religious activities. The conflict was right there with an apt messaging in sight. But to completely hinge on religion (I have no problem with this) with a suspension of disbelief and without logical explanation (I have a problem here), is not only diminishing the concept in its totality but also suicide on celluloid!

The drawback of the time-loop concept is essentially when the sequences get repeated to the point when even the drama starts getting repetitive. This is where the concept in Edge Of Tomorrow (2014) was a winner, manipulating the end of every event and in turn presenting something fresh to witness for its viewers. The repetitiveness in the drama only worsens the issue of the drama being immensely unfunny (I didn’t flinch a single muscle on my face throughout the film). The events start repeating only for the protagonist to behave differently even when the same events play out in a loop, even as the other characters are unaware of the mishaps. The writing needed an additional layer of logic and freshness with the situation to raise the stake in the drama (like Ranjan dying each day before his marriage in different ways), that could have further elevated the drama.

One little positive in this unfunny mess was with respect to the introduction of the character of Hamid (Akash Makhija) that provided the much needed emotional anchor in the drama. There was also a commentary on unity while also forcing a conflicted Ranjan to thing about his values and his morality. When the drama chose to be substantial, the writing did briefly come together too. But, and there is a very big BUT here – it chickened out at the end. Ideally to complete the emotional core of the drama, the writing needed to incorporate a backstory of Hamid to truly hit home at the end. Instead, what you are served is a stale rendition of ‘dialogue-baazi’ from the 90s while singling out a character during a central event. And later another character appearing out of nowhere to further give ‘gyaan’ (his two cents) on the situation, and save the day. And….and, the protagonist breaking the fourth wall out of nowhere to give that same ‘gyaan’ to the viewers (again).

I was reminded of my words in the review of the Tamil film Dragon (2025) that beautifully weaved a sub-plot at the end to cap the narrative. In it I had mentioned, that we are programmed to dumb down our drama to the lowest common denominator to such an extent that we usually aim for the lowest hanging fruit (something that Dragon refreshingly didn’t while hitting all the right chords as far as the emotions are concerned). Here, it was not only aiming for the lowest hanging fruit but also a brain-fade of epic proportions, that made me wonder on how in the world was this sequence even greenlit in 2025! It also made me deduce another thing – the writing was stuck in a time-loop of its own past! And that for me accurately sums up the stale screenplay here.