Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video (2024) :
Movie Review -
Raaj Shaandilyaa is definitely losing his touch, and the statement becomes more relevant when you see films like Janhit Mein Jaari, Luv Ki Arrange Marriage, Dream Girl 2, and now Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video. What must be the reason? The forced comedy remains the constant factor here. Apparently, these films somehow tried to tackle sensitive social issues, which I believe Raaj should stop doing at once. Let's stick to the comedy and make a good comedy; forget the social awareness and family problems. People come to cinemas to enjoy comedies, not to see their sensitive issues getting brutally trolled on the screen. Not everyone can be Rajkumar Hirani, and even a great filmmaker like him has failed recently with Dunki; then Raaj Shandilyaa is way behind.
Set in Rishikesh in 1997, Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video has a mehndi designer, Vicky (Rajkummar Rao), who is in love with Vidya (Tripti Dimri). By hook or crook, they manage to get married by creating a solid drama that looks very childish on the screen. Instead of Vaishnodevi, they decide to go to Goa for their honeymoon, and there they have this crazy idea of shooting a video of their sexual encounter. After returning home, the CD of their video gets stolen by a thief, and the couple sees trouble calling in the future. To avoid that, they must find the CD, but is it that easy? Find out the answer in the movie.
The film is written by Raaj Shaandilyaa only, so I'll take him responsible for all the goods and bads. First goods: This is an out-and-out comedy right from the beginning scene till the last one. Every single scene has been designed to create comedy and laughter. Now negatives: This is actually a forced comedy and looks very kiddish on many occasions. I personally think that this Western idea of making a honeymoon video was the worst selling point for the film. By calling it 97% parivarik, you are actually keeping 97% of the family audience away because any film with a sexual encounter's reference cannot appeal to the family audiences who like to watch the film together, especially with the kids. Raaj's screenplay is full of cringe scenes and Facebook post jokes that I used to read a decade ago during college days. Many of them became WhatsApp forwards later, but Raaj is too late to take them as the main reference point in the film. The film suffers from a poor plot and weak screenplay.
Rajkummar Rao is one of the finest actors of Bollywood from a young lot (his generation), but movies and roles like these don't do justice to his talent. He was fine in Srikanth this year, but the direction was flawed. He was decent in Stree 2, which wasn't an acting-driven role but survived due to the presence of a better director. Now here, he lacks both. Tripti Dimri can never be considered a good actress with such glamorous and stamp paper roles. I'd like to see her gorgeous face again and again, but not if she is not doing justice to the "actor" in her. For that, she must continue doing Bulbull and Qala. Vijay Raaz brings a few laughs, and Mallika Sherawat looks hot throughout the film, but these two could have been provided with better dialogues and characteristics. Archana Puran Singh and Mukesh Tiwari are loud and annoying; Tiku Talsania saves the day; Ashwini Kalsekar goes wild and over the top; Mast Ali, Kaveri Jha, and the rest of the supporting cast couldn't do anything noticeable. Shehnaaz Gill raises temperature with her cameo in a badly remade song.
VVKWWV has technical flaws as well, but I think it hardly matters in genres like comedy. The cinematography was decent, the editing was below average as it couldn't hold me for two and a half hours, the background score was too typical, like a TV sitcom, and the production design was fairly decent. The music doesn't help here except that the songs are visually appealing. It lacks a chartbuster for sure. A few dialogues are very funny, while the rest of them look forced and artificial. "Baat baat pe maarti hai, shaadi karke biwi laya hun ya Ajay Devgn"-these kinds of dialogue would definitely make you laugh. However, the forced humor and screenplay will annoy you. What was the need of Stree's spoof? Was there any need for chaotic mess in the ending? The film could have been wrapped within two hours, but this extra half an hour is what caused its downfall. Raaj Shandilyaa should start writing original jokes now because the internet has made these standup comedies, one-liners, and WhatsApp/Facebook forwards much more viral in today's time than they were before the pandemic. And most importantly, stop forcing comedy and PJs in every single scene. It looks tiresome in an hour or so. In short, Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video is low on substance and high on childish jokes.
RATING - 3/10*
