Govinda Naam Mera Review - Instead of Characters, They Murdered The Film

Shashank Khaitan enters the world of outright comedy with his latest film, Govinda Naam Mera, starring Vicky Kaushal, Kiara Advani, and Bhumi Pednekar in the lead roles. He should have kept himself away from the outright comedy, because this film doesn't suit his standard, which he set with rom-coms like Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014), Badrinath Ki Dulhania (2017), and sort of a decent remake like Dhadak (2018). Govinda Naam Mera tries to be funny but ends up making fun of itself as a film. Something seems to be wrong with Bollywood comedies nowadays. Forget good-quality comedies; we are not even making decent one-time-watch flicks in the comedy genre. Govinda Naam Mera proves WHY!The film is about Govinda Waghmare (Vicky Kaushal), aka Govya, who wants to get a divorce from his wife Gauri Waghmare (Bhumi Pednekar). Govinda is a struggling choreographer and has a girlfriend called Suku (Kiara Advani), who is in the same field. As he tries to win a 150-crore house back from his stepbrother, the sudden death of Gauri (by murder, of course) leads him and Suku into trouble. Will our so-called bechara Govinda find a way out of this mess, or will he be trapped by the people he trusted the most? This murder mystery has a lot of twists at the end for you.Govinda Naam Mera may lack the comedy factors you were looking for, but it has got some interesting turnarounds, just like those old-school British crime comedies. Well, that's too old for 2022, and I think Shashank should have thought about it while writing the script. Above all, cheap jokes and unbearable humour make you feel bored as hell. There are hardly any scenes when you'll have a proper gag (not fake, deliberate ones, I mean), and the 130-minute runtime is too long for these one or two laughs. There is nothing wrong with the basic script, as it fulfils all the criteria of a comedy thriller. All that this film lacks is organic methods and nice funny lines.It is hard for me to believe that Vicky Kaushal has come to this from a career-defining performance like Sardar Udham. This guy has so much talent, and he has shown it in films like Masaan, Raman Raghav 2.0, Raazi, Sanju, Uri, and his best work till date, Sardar Udham. Can you waste a film like Govinda Naam Mera? The same goes with Kiara Advani, who had just started getting notice with performances like Shershaah. Now this seriously puts her on the backburner. I kind of liked Bhumi's accent and Bindass attitude, but the performance was not up to par. Amey Wagh, Trupti Khamkar, Dayanand Shetty, Sayaji Shinde, and Viraj Ghelani add nothing much, while Ranbir Kapoor's cameo brings a few laughs (with Ranveer Singh's references).The song has wild vibes and has you tapping your feet. Ranbir's appearance makes it more vibrant. The other three songs, Sharabi, Baat Hai, and Jhappi, do not impress much. The camerawork of Vidushi Tiwari hasn't been creative, but who was looking for that in this film? Many people started doubting the film since Shashank, Dharma, and Viacom decided to drop it on the OTT platform when the theatres were running at full capacity. They were all right. Shashank Khaitan is mature enough to understand his project, what he has made, and how people will react to it; hence, he chose this way. Khaitan's cameo and direction both make no difference in what you are watching on the screen. You are entitled to shift the focus from the screen or use the fast-forward option. Thank God, OTT platforms have this feature to save our precious time. GMN will likely prove its importance yet again.