‘Madgaon Express’ (2024) Movie Review - Three of Us

The best thing about writer-director Kunal Khemu's Madgaon Express is that scene near the beginning where Dodo (Divyenndu), Pinku (Pratik Gandhi), and Ayush (Avinash Tiwary) make a sudden plan to go to Goa while sitting in the car. Ayush steps on the pedal, Dodo pukes on Ayush's face in slow motion, the three friends get into an accident, Pinku flies out of the car, and water - like a fountain - erupts from the ground and rises upwards. This sequence unfolds like a well-choreographed dance. Everything is well-timed and well-executed. The accident gives rise to a joke so hilarious that every other joke in this film pales in comparison (it has something to do with the manipulation of the Dil Chahta Hai tune).

There are three or four other jokes that generate chuckles. The rest resemble an enthusiastic comedian who doesn't have good rib-ticklers, only good intentions. You feel like giving a consolation prize for the effort. As a filmmaker, Khemu (a talented comic actor) throws everything at the wall. In fact, he is so busy throwing things that he never pauses to see if the gags are sticking or not (they mostly don't). It's initially established that Dodo, while dancing, accidentally ends up kicking people. This trait never appears again after the opening scenes, which is a pity considering how much better it would have made the song-and-dance sequences, which admittedly are nicely set into motion but remain unmemorable.

The humor in Madgaon Express is more miss than hit. Its emotional thread - Dodo faking his life for the online world, Dodo trying to impress his friends - is a gross miscalculation. Khemu, by attempting to make his characters appear human, weakens the comic strength of his material. Ayush and Pinku talk about their girlfriends with care, affection, and warmth. During such occasions, they change from funny figures to flesh and blood humans. So when Pinku's girlfriend is kidnapped (the kidnapper threatens to "touch" her) and Ayush learns something about her "soulmate" later, you feel uncomfortable. It's hard to laugh at the clowns when you are constantly told there is a human behind the mask. When Ayush and Pinku come to know they are going to Goa on a train in a sleeper coach, they become irritated (Pinku more than Ayush due to his health complications). Dodo, through his speech about the Indian Railways, tries to deflate tension, but we side with Ayush and Pinku instead of laughing at Dodo's lecture.

If you go to the theater after watching the film's trailer, you will find Madgaon Express more unfunny, and more predictable. If Fukrey 3's trailer spoiled, say, the ice cube moment, Madgaon Express's trailer spoils moments like the one involving slippery "boobs" and a bouncing bullet. Even that scene where a woman fires a gun - lifted from one of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels - loses its charm because we sniff it out before its arrival.

Thanks to the movies, Ayush, Pinku, and Dodo have a romantic view of Goa. Madgaon Express is about the destruction of their romantic notions. It's a lesson for the three friends that the real Goa is different from the real Goa, and that reality is different from fiction. Yet, the movie ends up giving us the Goa you see in films through drugs and colorful gangsters. The friends also get to party with bikini babes like movie characters. Madgaon Express is in conflict with itself.

Ultimately, what you can really do is admire Khemu's intentions. Pay attention to the things in the background. There is an engine with the words, "Goa Finally." During the climax, people rest or sleep calmly on the upper berth while the characters point guns at each other. Khemu rarely misses an opportunity to sell humor. When Pinku throws a coconut, it hits a dog (we hear his whimpers in the background). Dodo's dad says, "Aata Majhi Satakli," a line that belongs to Singham. When Pinku, high on cocaine, opens his mouth, we hear the roars of a lion. A police officer is scolded for spitting on a wall. Later, we notice a wall with the words, "Thukna hai toh yahan thuko." Khemu's attention to these little details is commendable. If only this assiduousness had translated to big laughs.

Final Score- [5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times