‘Vibe’ movie review: Kunal Kemmu aims for stars in rudderless, overlong comedy

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Sparsh Srivastava and Kunal Kemmu in ‘Vibe’ | Photo Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

There’s comfort in letting Kunal Kemmu be Kunal Kemmu. His animated buffoonery has shaped itself over the years whether it is the mix of his flirty bad-boyish excesses in Dhol and Go Goa Gone, the no-brainer antics of the Golmaal films or the recent touch of innocence that came spilling through Netflix’s Single Papa . Kemmu invokes it all in his sophomore directorial Vibe, playing a serial tripper, Hardik, who feels like an updated version of his past comedic characters, always having a one-line up his sleeve, as he painfully navigates through unexpected situations with his instinctive comic timing. However, none of it proves enough for Vibe as Kunal Kemmu (the writer-director), relies far too much on the spontaneity of Kunal Kemmu (the actor), forgetting the propulsive riches of his debut, Madgaon Express , where the comedy progressed beat-by-beat into a hilarious outing. As it goes, he struggles to match his own vibe the second time around.

The troubles start showing up early on as the screenplay hastily switches between characters and plot lines. One of them begins with Bhagirath (Sparsh Srivastava), a serious hustler working at a software company where he traps his boss into employing Hardik, his good-for-nothing, stoner best-buddy from school. Meanwhile, a terror attack is being planned at an undisclosed location and its input is gathered by an intelligence agency headed by Madam H (Preity Zinta). Naturally, Hardik is caught in the midst and along with Bhagirath, the two are pulled into a deadly web of conspiracy.

Sparsh Srivastava and Kunal Kemmu in ‘Vibe’ | Photo Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

It is difficult to really situate Hardik’s humanity in the story as Kemmu’s writing never lets him follow one characteristic. The tone keeps shifting as Hardik immodestly flirts with an office intern Kareena (Vanshika Dhar), often imposing his liking with borderline creepiness, like how during a song sequence Hardik bends over in the elevator to sniff Kareena’s fragrance and the moment plays over with a cutesy pretence. Earlier, Bhagirath warns him to be in his limits, mentioning the company’s stricter sexual harassment policies. The casual nature of these sequences is troubling for how later Hardik is made out to be an innocent lover boy as he plans a dreamy date for Kareena in a planetarium. She enjoys it and hugs him before leaving, which again brings out the ‘bad boy’ as he squeezes into her for a brief moment. Kemmu treats Hardik with a strange ambiguity, often normalising his ill-manners under the garb of humour.

The film rises from the discomforting nature of these easy-laughs and tries to be an action-comedy, as Bhagirath and Hardik become unlikely leads to stop a terror attack. Much of these sequences in the second half play without invention and Kemmu doesn’t go all out with his comedy like he did in Madgaon Express .