‘Vibe’ movie review: Kunal Kemmu aims for stars in rudderless, overlong comedy

There’s comfort in letting Kunal Kemmu be Kunal Kemmu. His animated buffoonery has shaped itself over the years whether it is the mix of his flirty bad-boyish excesses in Dhol and Go Goa Gone, the no-brainer antics of the Golmaal films or the recent touch of innocence that came spilling through Netflix’s Single Papa. Kemmu invokes it all in his sophomore directorial Vibe, playing a serial tripper, Hardik, who feels like an updated version of his past comedic characters, always having a one-line up his sleeve, as he painfully navigates through unexpected situations with his instinctive comic timing. However, none of it proves enough for Vibe as Kunal Kemmu (the writer-director), relies far too much on the spontaneity of Kunal Kemmu (the actor), forgetting the propulsive riches of his debut, Madgaon Express, where the comedy progressed beat-by-beat into a hilarious outing. As it goes, he struggles to match his own vibe the second time around.

The troubles start showing up early on as the screenplay hastily switches between characters and plot lines. One of them begins with Bhagirath (Sparsh Srivastava), a serious hustler working at a software company where he traps his boss into employing Hardik, his good-for-nothing, stoner best-buddy from school. Meanwhile, a terror attack is being planned at an undisclosed location and its input is gathered by an intelligence agency headed by Madam H (Preity Zinta). Naturally, Hardik is caught in the midst and along with Bhagirath, the two are pulled into a deadly web of conspiracy.

Sparsh Srivastava and Kunal Kemmu in ‘Vibe’
| Photo Credit:
Amazon MGM Studios

It is difficult to really situate Hardik’s humanity in the story as Kemmu’s writing never lets him follow one characteristic. The tone keeps shifting as Hardik immodestly flirts with an office intern Kareena (Vanshika Dhar), often imposing his liking with borderline creepiness, like how during a song sequence Hardik bends over in the elevator to sniff Kareena’s fragrance and the moment plays over with a cutesy pretence. Earlier, Bhagirath warns him to be in his limits, mentioning the company’s stricter sexual harassment policies. The casual nature of these sequences is troubling for how later Hardik is made out to be an innocent lover boy as he plans a dreamy date for Kareena in a planetarium. She enjoys it and hugs him before leaving, which again brings out the ‘bad boy’ as he squeezes into her for a brief moment. Kemmu treats Hardik with a strange ambiguity, often normalising his ill-manners under the garb of humour.

The film rises from the discomforting nature of these easy-laughs and tries to be an action-comedy, as Bhagirath and Hardik become unlikely leads to stop a terror attack. Much of these sequences in the second half play without invention and Kemmu doesn’t go all out with his comedy like he did in Madgaon Express. In comparison, the surprises here aren’t too many as Kemmu doesn’t pick up a spoofy style that would have worked well with the rest of the quirkiness, seen earlier this year in Vir Das’ inconsistent but snacky spy-comedy, Happy Patel.

Das instilled a distinctness to Mona Singh in the film, making her play a menacing gangster with a touch of eccentricity. There was a chance to do that and more with Preity Zinta in Vibe but her character is written without flair; she doesn’t rise beyond her bossy outcomes as the actor too stays within familiar terrains with her performance. Sparsh is not revealing either as he tries to add some jest to an underwritten character while Yashpal Sharma and Dinesh Lal Yadav are practically wasted as the two associates of Madam H.

Preity Zinta in ‘Vibe’
| Photo Credit:
Amazon MGM Studios

The focus stays perenially on Hardik, and Kemmu is capable of livening moments even when the writing doesn’t offer as much support. He remains watchable with his inimitable, buoyant voice, right from the first time it is heard before the opening credits through the brand logos and special thanks section. “The movie is about to start,” he says while mildly roasting the practise. There’s great promise of a self-aware, chirpy flick even before the first frame comes up. But Kemmu withdraws from the path and chooses another, longer and laborious one instead, where he is the center of his own world, sagging beneath his own image, as he deifies himself with an introductory slow-mo sequence over pumped up music, following that up with another similar moment of superstar machismo in the climax.

Where’s the goofy Kunal Kemmu in all this? Where’s the ‘Josh hai to hausle hai, chidiya hai to ghosle hai…’ rigour from Golmaal 3? The sophomore spark fizzles out soon. Here’s hoping that the third time’s a charm.

Vibe is currently running in theatres