MADGAON EXPRESS: Fantastic mix of laughter & entertainment

By

Sharada Iyer

Kunal Khemu’s debut directorial venture Madgaon Express is a brilliantly scripted and intelligently directed film laced with rib-tickling humour from beginning to end. The narrative engages the viewer from the very first scene and the characters are so effectively written that we find ourselves completely invested in the goings-on in their life and the two and a half hours just breezes away with plenty of laugh-out-loud situations.

It is just pure situational comedy and does not resort to any cheap innuendos, raunchiness or even item numbers. The genius of the film lies in its superb storyline, fast-paced narrative, plenty of funny twists and turns, hilarious dialogues, and the remarkable performance of the cast.

Kunal Khemu who himself is a highly talented actor, now shows his prowess not only as a director, but having written the story, screenplay, and dialogues of the film, he shows his mastery in these departments as well. His vision to cast real talent and not just popular star faces has also paid off well.

Actors Divyendu Sharma, Prateik Gandhi and Avinash Tiwary who have proved their talent in several acclaimed OTT web-series, get to display a new facet of their talent with their fantastic chemistry and superb comic timing which just raises the film several notches higher. They are so natural and infuse so much life into their characters that the end result is just outstanding!

On the face of it, the plot is a simple story of three friends who have been together since their school days and always dreamt of taking a trip to Goa on their own. However, the plan never materializes and after college, they go their separate ways though they do keep in touch through social media. How they meet up after many years and finally end up going on this trip also forms an interesting aspect.

When they arrive at the station to board the Madgaon Express train, clashes and disagreements occur and soon things start spiraling out of control. Unexpected incidents happen during the journey and they keep getting more and more entangled without any clue to escape. One thing leads to another and to their utmost horror, they find themselves caught in a drug mafia mess with many people after their lives.

Rival gangs with leaders going by the names of ‘Mendonza Bhai’ (played by Upendra Limaye) and ‘Kanchan Kombdi’ (played by Chaya Kadam) cannot wait to get their hands on them. There is also a Dr Danny (played by Remo D’Souza) who is after them with an ulterior motive and so is the entire Goa police. They also cross paths with Nora Fatehi who has an important role.

One may wonder after two very successful films already made on the friendship genre- Dil Chahta Hai and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, what else can be new? Herein lies Kunal Khemu’s acuity as he intelligently steers clear of either of these plots to come up with his own kind of friendship film which focuses only on the series of incidents and avoids any melodrama or preaching any philosophy.

The Goa scenario has been captured very well and makes everything very realistic. The incidents are very relatable as this could happen to anybody. Background music is good and songs are apt and fit into the narrative without boring the viewer. Producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani deserve special kudos for giving us a perfect family film with full-on ‘masti’, ‘mazaa’ and total ‘paisa-vasool’ experience!

Saying anything more would take away the fun element of the film. Suffice to say the film is not to be missed especially if you are looking for a hilarious ride to escape the mundane routine of life. You will not be disappointed!

Amidst all the nonsensical propaganda films and meaningless half-baked biographies being currently churned out by Bollywood, this out and out comedy film comes as a breath of fresh air raising our hopes for the kind of cinema which seems to be fast disappearing from our industry’s horizon.