BUDDY ROLLER-COASTER
Madgaonexpress is a 2024 Hindilanguage comedy film written and directed by actor Kunal Khemu in his directorial debut and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under the banner of Excel Entertainment.
The film stars (oops!) features ‘award winning’ actors like
Avinash Tiwary, Pratik Gandhi, Divyendu Sharma, who have been seen in popular films here, though they lack sheer star value, Marathi actors Upendra Limaye and Chhaya Kadam, and Kunal Kemu’s lucky charm) Nora Fatehi who he had been fantasising about as the ‘heroine of his debut film’ for quite some time.
If you’ve seen Dilchahtahain (2001) and ten years later Zindaginamilegidobara (2011), you’ve seen it all - the rollercoaster of three friends catching up on old promises - besides more buffoonery, like the Fukrey’s and the Pyarkapanchnamas’. Madgaonexpress is yet another example of old wine in new skins – but enjoy it for its new humour and treatment, to de-stress yourself.
The story, much like most ‘Goa plans’ begins in the '90s, when Dhanush (Divyenndu), Ayush (Avinash Tiwary) and Pratik (Pratik Gandhi) dream of a Goa vacation with beaches and ‘bikini babes’ as three outspoken, overzealous school-going losers.
The three remain lifelong friends, but not all of them follow rewarding careers. While Ayush and Pratik move abroad for big bucks, Dhanush aka Dodo grows up in penury. Years later, a random plan brings the three together in Mumbai, for one last attempt at doing that unfulfilled Goa trip. A bag gets exchanged aboard a filthy train and all hell breaks loose in Goa, teeming with drug gangs, et al.
The plot is basic and an extension of the several loose roles Khemu himself has been playing in several masala flicks over the years. It’s like, he wanted to stand aside and view all the onset fun from a different perspective as ‘director’. If the likes of Prabhu Deva and Remo can be directors overnight, why can’t our little Khemu, who always charmed audiences with his cute screen appeal? .
After all, this is more than an ABCDEFG, though akin to Farhan Akhtars preceding flicks.