Govinda Naam Mera review: Vicky, Kiara or Bhumi cannot help a brainless film that lacks comedy or thrills

Govinda Naam Mera review: Despite Vicky Kaushal, Kiara Advani and Bhumi Pednekar sticking to the brief, nothing could help a story and execution this bad.

If only having a bunch of good performers could guarantee a good film, writer-director Shashank Khaitan’s Govinda Naam Mera would have been a perfect mix. Alas, the film is reduced to a rather silly whodunit with a flat narrative, storyline that never has a single track to follow and the humour that is so sporadic. Govinda Naam Mera might look very refreshing on the set with Vicky Kaushal, Kiara Advani and Bhumi Pednekar trying to portray characters that we haven’t really seen them play in the past, but the poor story and even poorer execution fails these actors at many levels.

Govind A Waghmare aka Govinda (Kaushal) is a background dancer, who wants to be a choreographer. He is juggling a ‘hotty’ wife Gauri (Pednekar) at home, and has an extra marital affair with his ‘naughty’ girlfriend Suku (Advani). When not shuttling between his women, Govinda is either planning some mischief with his lawyer friend (Amey Wagh) or taking care of his wheelchair-bound aai Asha Waghmare (Renuka Shahane), who is desperate to get her late husband’s property back. There’s a bungalow, worth crores in the heart of Mumbai city, which has multiple claimants. In between funny courtroom scenes and lawyers trying to make sense of evidences, there’s a murder and a theft and that’s when the plot shifts and we see the story unfold. But it happens at such a pace and manner that it never gives you nail-biting moments. After the first 40 minutes got over, I was still trying to wrap my head around what really is happening and what are they trying to show.

While OTT releases don’t give us any clear-cut interval, regular theatre-going audience can easily make out when and where the first half ends. So, minutes after the second half begins, I started to guess what could have happened, who would have done it and I was bang-on right. You see, when the script turns that predictable it leaves you rather disappointed.

It’s heartbreaking to see an actor of Kaushal’s calibre say lines like, ‘Pighal jayega bhai, baraf ki thaili hai’. Was it funny? No! Or Advani’s introduction scene wearing a yellow saree giving full-on Tip Tip Barsa feels and dancing to ‘Maang Meri Bharo, Pyaar Mujhe Karo’ looked hot but then it ended too soon. Even Pednekar in those cliche satin nighties didn’t make a strong case for herself. Performance wise, all these three actors did justice to the brief that must have been given to them but with a story so meaningless, there’s only so much even you can bring to the table. The saddest I felt was for Shahane who didn’t deserve this lame a part to portray.

Govinda Naam Mera can easily boast of having an ensemble cast but at places, it starts to look like a clutter. Other than the leading trio, we see a Crime Patrol obsessed Manju bai (Tripti Khamkar), Gauri’s boyfriend Baldev (Viraj Ghelani), an insurance policy guy and a corrupt Inspector Javed (Dayanand Shetty). No thriller is complete without some villains, so we have a parallel plot running with businessman Ajit Dharkar (Sayyaji Shinde) and his son Sandeep aka Sandy (veteran actor Ranjit’s son making his debut). All these do get their few minutes of screen time but never to an extent that they leave a lasting impact.

That being said, if a song and dance sequence could anyhow compensate, I enjoyed Bijli song, though even in that a precisely two-minute cameo by Ranbir Kapoor steals the show. Watch Govinda Naam Mera if you could sit through brainless a comedy that makes you laugh maybe at a couple of scenes but mostly keeps you confused as to why a story with much potential was treated so badly and half-heartedly. The film is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

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