Go Goa Gone

Stoner films and movies based on zombies are an often seen and enjoyed genre in Hollywood. In India, due to stringent certification rules and the general conservative mindset among the audience, such films aren’t tried by our film-makers. But now, we have Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK presenting a zombie comedy (India's first zom-com as they say), backed by a brave producer in the form of Saif Ali Khan.

We have a typical trio of friends, roommates and colleagues - Luv, Hardik and Bunny. Bunny is the straightforward one in the gang while the other two are easygoing and have their share of booze and drugs. After Luv gets dumped by his girlfriend and Hardik loses his job, they happen to get the chance to go to Goa along with Bunny. They see this trip as their chance to drown their worries in more booze, drugs and girls. But, after a wild rave party in a Goan island, organized by the Russian mafia, things go crazy and zombies start cropping up all over the island.

The rest of the movie is an adventurous chase filled with thrills, spills and plenty of unsettling and bloody visuals of the zombies. The fun aspect is maintained throughout too.

The charismatic and stylish Saif Ali Khan plays a ‘desi’ Russian mafia ‘zombie hunter’, replete with a totally blonde crop of hair and a perfect Russian accent. His screen-presence is admirable and he passes off authentically as a Russian. There is the hot and pretty Puja Gupta providing some female charm in the chase as Luna, another youngster who is trapped in the island after the party.

The guys in the movie have had a jolly ride and they pretty much behave like how urban guys are. Kunal Khemu as the flirty and easy going Hardik scores high while Vir Das reprises the role which he played in Delhi Belly, as the down-on-luck and desperate dude. Anand Tiwari has good humor sense and he makes the nerdy chap Bunny, an endearing one.

This is one of those movies where conservative cinema rules have been broken coolly. We see our lead guys rolling a joint and smoking-up throughout the movie. Expletives fly all over the place in scene after scene.

These guys have surely had a lot of irreverent fun and it is targeted at the urban youth all the way. There is of course a message in the movie against alcohol, drugs and smoking and it gets emphasized more than once. They ask us to just visit Goa for the beautiful place it is, and not for the other adult aspects that Goa has come to symbolize.

The music by Sachin - Jigar is trendy and gels with the hep and youthful tone of the film. The madcap Babaji Ki Booty in the end, is very interestingly conceptualized. The Goan visuals are scenic and vibrant as always.

The filmmakers have taken the zombie aspect very seriously and we have many gory and gross visuals of the zombies devouring and tearing apart human body parts and flesh. If you can tolerate such visuals, Go Goa Gone is worth a trip as it provides enough entertainment.