Is that a spoiler? I guess it is a small spoiler. Because sometimes Jackie is hot, and sometimes he is a yuck old man. But in this film, HOT! Don’t know what magic pill they gave him, or maybe the pandemic was just very good for him in terms of making him look rested and healthy, but dude looks GOOD. Oh, and also there were other people in the movie and they were also okay. And the movie itself was clever and made me laugh. But Jackie, HOTTIE!

Somehow I missed this was an Excel Entertainment film. Excel must be so angry, they made Go Goa Gone years and YEARS ago and no one noticed, and now horror-comedy films are the hot thing and they look like imitators releasing this film, but actually they were the originators. Anyway, it’s very well-produced as I have come to expect from Excel. The budget went to smart places, clever set design and costumes, and good dialogue. The songs are mostly remixes (but really good remixes), and you can see that it was cleverly filmed so that minimal cast had to be available simultaneously. Hot Jackie Shroff could have easily done 90% of his scenes at his own convenience, even Kat had a lot of flexibility in what she needed to be available for, she spent most of the film in the same costume and a wig, probably took her a tight 30 minutes to get ready for filming every day instead of the usual 2 hours for a heroine.

The biggest flaw of the film is that it is left to be carried by Siddhant Chaturvardi and Ishaan Khattar. Both of them are promising and talented, but not at the level of experience where you can just put them in a room and trust them to elevate the material. And the script just isn’t quite able to get them the rest of the way by themselves. It turns into one of those bromances that is half misogynistic and half “aren’t they just gay?” Like, the scriptwriters don’t know how to write male friend dialogue without that “lets talk about how hot girls are, while at the same time putting our relationship with each other above all women”.

Surprisingly, I found Ishaan the better actor and better comedian. Siddhant was AMAZING in Gully Boy, and I haven’t seen Ishaan in anything before this, so I went in with opposite expectations. But Ishaan fully throws himself into his character, while Siddhant has that “cool dude half standing back from comedy” problem. I hate that. You agreed to do a comedy film, just do the dang film, don’t do it as though you are “playing at” comedy.

You know who throws himself entirely into whatever job he signs up for? Jackie Shroff!!!! He goes full wigs, tattoos, costumes, all out. He even has a throne! And late in the film they have him play a flute! Which caused my theater to cheer.

Oh right, that’s the other part about this movie. This movie itself 100% throws itself into being what it is. It has inside jokes, kooky costumes, fantasy moments, just stupid fun. It made me laugh and it made me smile and it made me happy. And it made everyone at the theater happy too, it was a GREAT crowd. Me and my friend, and 3 teenage boys, and a Mom and maybe 6 teenage girls. Plus a scattering of less vocal folks. Perfect crowd for this film, the teenagers laughed heartily, the girls even danced during the end credits, and we had cheers for Katrina, and for Jackie’s flute playing.

So if you want big dumb horror comedy fun with just a smidge of toxic masculinity (or else gayness? The two things are SO CLOSE to each other!), lots of cheerful fun, Jackie being hot, and a good soundtrack, go watch this film.