- Date of Release: 11 October 2024
- Genre: Comedy
- Language: Hindi
- Watch On: Theatres Only
Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video
Introduction
In an early scene in Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, it is established that the story is set in the 90s. I am so damn sure that some script supervisor sitting in a posh office would have read the script, and conveyed, ‘Yeh Toh 90s Ki Script Hai’ (This Script Is From The 90s), something that may have prompted the writers to rewrite the drama by setting it in the 90s. I mean how bad could a film be when you see effort in a performance from Rajkummar Rao, who is desperately trying to make the non-existent writing work, but to no avail. In reality, I just couldn’t wrap my head around what the film stood for – was it a general gags kind of a film, a film with an abundance of absurdity, a searing social commentary or nothing at all? This is the issue that most films face when you try to work a story around multiple sketches that have no real connection with each other. So even though you try and fool yourself by laughing at the so-called gags, the end product will turn out to be more ridiculous than it ever has been. And with Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, the humour is simply unpardonable, let alone funny, so much so that I found myself sinking in my seat steadily throughout the film.
Story & Screenplay
The premise of Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video is just like its title – long and unfunny. The story of two individuals who are in love and finally get married against all *ridiculous* odds despite differences in their caste and stature,…..I’ll pause here for a minute to tell you that this detail never finds its way in the narrative again………..get married. During their honeymoon in Goa and not Rishikesh (having skipped the boring religious pilgrimage), Vicky (a tepid Rajkummar Rao) comes up with a grand plan to shoot his ‘Suhagraat’ (First Night of Ahem Ahem) with Vidya (an in form Tripti Dimri), and preserve the CD (yes, remember 90s script?) For times when they fight, just so that they could calm down their emotions and rile up their emotions in bed. The convenient twist in the tale takes place when the CD (along with the CD player gets stolen) only for Vicky and to an extent Vidya to launch a search with the help of a bunch of unfunny and uninterested characters. Haha haha haha..my stomach is aching with laughter (not)!
If sitting with a straight face is an art then I was the picasso of it. This is because the gags barely made my face muscles twitch. Some of the best lines were already prevalent in the trailer, and that was about it. And not to mention the high pitch of the characters, desperately wanting to put a smile on your face. Well guess what – loudness is NOT equal to comedy. To be fair, there was atleast some structure in the first act of the film, with some level of coherence wherein the writers did get the 90s era and setting of the drama right. And this is me literally searching for positives in the writing with a torchlight. But by the time the second act kicks in, you see the random appearance of characters that enter straight from a comedy sketch from comedy circus, that push the drama towards absurdity.
I wish the writers would have continued with the same kind of grounded humour that was frivolous but atleast watchable, with the central theme of the drama. But there was literally no saving this drama that had no redemption at all. Picture this – the character of Vicky randomly appears at a hotel to nab the thief who randomly appears dead, to the cops randomly appearing in the same room, to Vicky randomly climbing down the balcony, to Vidya randomly appearing leaving Vicky in mid-air. And that was the interval block….funny no? No? But there is more of such nonsense in the second hour! Imagine having two characters named Sunil and Shetty, both twins and caricatures of Sunil Shetty. Slow claps!
The levels of absurdity that the drama subjects itself to, just cannot be quantified. The introduction of the character of Stree, only for a character to say ‘Parso Aana’ (come day after tomorrow) was a proper pop reference that never was a part of this world in the first place. I mean, the script is of 90s remember? There was no ‘Stree’ back then (sic). On a serious note, the entire horror-comedy sequence came out of nowhere just because the drama was set in a graveyard. All this while I was thinking ‘Hasna Tha Kya?’. This is what happens when you write gags first and connect it to a story. But the best in terms of nonsense was yet to come. After a ridiculous sequence of an expośe of sorts, there is a long monologue by Vicky on how couples commit suicide once their private videos are leaked. And I thought to myself, since when did this drama become a social satire? And and, why was Vicky being a saint when it was his idea to make a video of him in the act with Vidya? I mean if he wouldn’t have made the video, we wouldn’t have got this film, right? The screenplay is a mess, no two ways about it.
Dialogues, Music & Direction
Dialogues in a Raaj Shaandilyaa film have always been a strong point but that just wasn’t the case here. My random chuckle was more directed towards the silliness of the drama, more than the gags of the film. The music is excellent and solely remains the strongest point of the film. Every time a song appears, I invariably found myself grooving to its beats, and the songs will be a huge hit in the reels (is what I am assuming). The cinematography comprises of frames that are basic with absolutely no thought put behind them. The editing is erratic and I feel for the editor because he was tasked with the duty to combine a group of randomly shot sequences into a film that didn’t have any transition shots. Director Raaj Shaandilyaa misses the mark and how! Neither does he score with the confused characterization, neither with the random world-building, and comedy toh bhul hi jao (let alone the comedy aspect of it). This was a film made with a collection of gags from comedy circus that was cringe, and just not upto the mark. The direction is poor here.
Performances
The performances are way over-the-top which you may argue was the need of the hour given that the film was a comedy. But in reality, none of the characters had any meat to them. It pained me to see some veterans like Archana Puran Singh, Ashwini Kalsekar (straight out of a character from a Rohit Shetty film), Rakesh Bedi and Mukesh Tiwari reduced to such caricatures. Even the ever-reliable Vijay Raaz did try hard but to no avail where the comic scenes refused to land. Mallika Sherawat looked very pretty but she wasn’t given much to work with. Tiku Talsania was good and atleast some of the comedy in his scenes did land. I have never seen Rajkummar Rao try this hard in any role of his. You could see the effort in his comedy which was never a great sign, and I did feel sad for him especially because this film comes straight after the historic success of Stree 2. Tripti Dimri as Vidya does a good job here but she was never going to save this sinking ship. And to think that even a little dance cameo by Raaj Shaandilyaa was better than her dance moves, meant that it was the final nail in the coffin for the film as far as I was concerned.
Conclusion
Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video ought to have been titled ‘Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Headache’ because I ended up with just that. The film was so absurd that after a point I couldn’t make head or tail of it, even as my facial muscles refused to twitch on the jokes that felt like comedy sketches from television. This one was the ‘Tharkulla’ of all comedies. Available in a theatre near you.
