Go-Ramgopal Varma Movie Reviews

When a riotous situation in the film has a mention of Sharat Saxena being a far more popular actor than Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee combined together, you know that you have entered Ram Gopal Varma territory. The man certainly knows how to get some over the top humor, courtesy films like RANGEELA, DAUD and MAST, and GO too has shades of such humor.

To think of it, GO is a simple chase film where mood alternates between romance, action, conspiracy and comedy. Two teenage lovers [Gautam and Nisha Kothari] decide to run away from home due to parental situation. There is a KHANNA & IYER (and if one goes way back into the memory lane - EK DUJE KE LIYE) situation as the culturally apart parents of the two kids file police complaints.

As they make a rainy journey from Bombay to Goa, they come across a Chief Minister's PA who would soon breath his last, an amusing cop (did someone just say Amjad Khan from LOVE STORY?) played with gusto by Kay Kay Menon, a frustrated and confused henchman (Shereveer Vakil), a Michael Jackson wannabe petty criminal who has his connections all the way with Thakur saab (is there actually anyone like him?) from Bihar and a group of truck drivers from Punjab who tell stupid jokes that Gutam has heard in Class 5th and would be responsible for an accident that would take the story to it's interval point!

As all this 'bhagam bhag' happens, the Chief Minister (Ravi Kale) of the State has his own problems to solve since his PA has captured his 'raaz ki baat' in a cassette which travels all over from Bombay to Goa and then back to Bombay.

CM's henchmen out to capture the cassette, Kay Kay being highly amused at the turn of events where he is trying to balance the gray side of his character by alternating between good and bad, sequence near the accident site where Rajpal Yadav impersonating as a 'hawaldar' helps the love birds fly, situation in Goa when Gautam gets out of a tricky situation by celebrating birthday of Shereveer Vakil, Kay Kay finding the truth inside the cassette and Gautam realizing what he is up to and an entire climax where every character in the film has a gun put on each other's head - all of such scenes coming one after another at a good pace doesn't give audience much time to even think in the direction of 'ok, so is that possible?' and instead just continue to be entertained.

In fact it won't be wrong to say that it is the introduction of Rajpal Yadav's character that adds on spice to the proceedings. Even though his 'hey, I have got a gun behind you' act repeats itself half a dozen times in the pre-climax and the climax, it is still fun to have him on the frames. Especially riotus is his impersonation of Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Deenanath Chauhan from AGNEEPATH. Some homage here!

Kay Kay is quite efficient here and has some of the best funny one liners to his credit here. As a cop who is laidback and is merely conducting his duty while being hardly bothered by the right and the wrong of things, he is quite likeable. He has his own way of delivering comic lines with a deadpan approach and makes it all seem like a cakewalk.

Nisha Kothari is required to play a 16 year old girl who is bit stupid, a little lost in love, a lot sexy, somewhat bullied around by her boyfriend but still loves to hang around with him. She looks and plays the teenage girl part decently though with some inconsistency. In emotional scenes, she looses the plot while her expressions go completely haywire when she is required to act scared. On the positive side, her dialogue delivery and facial expressions are as per the part she is required to play as that of a kid.

Gautam is a picture of confidence. He compensates for his average looks by doing whatever is required from a conventional hero i.e. romance well, get his comic timing right, have his two feet in coordination while dancing, be convincing in action scenes and overall display the right attitude. In a comic thriller like GO, Gautam does well for himself and makes his presence felt. Looking at how the duo of Gautam and Nisha is best in comic scenes here, it may do a whale of good for them to be a part of a comic multistarrer in near future and get a further standing in the industry before heading back to solo leads.

Background music by Amar Mohile is in good synch with the film's 'masala' feel and compliments it well. Songs by Sneha Khanwalkar and Prasanna Shekhar are average on audio but aided by some innovative choreography (especially the song during opening credit rolls, 'Oooh', 'Kaash' and 'Dhan Tan Tan') they keep you engaged. Cinematography is of standard with special mention reserved for the chase sequence in the per-interval portions on a rainy night.

What works in favor of GO is it's racy pace. Director Manish Srivastav ensures that his 100 minutes tale doesn't slack even once even though being embellished with certain age old clichés. While the first half is decent with some naach-gaana, comedy, a political angle thrown in to get the 80s/90s 'masala' and some well crafted action, the second half starts on a good note and continues to take an upward gear with every passing reel.

Zero expectations factor is actually one of the major reasons due to which as an audience you eventually end up realizing the lighter side of affairs and bring on the smiles and chuckles which turn into full-on laughter during last 30 minutes of the film.

With a basic plot being reminiscent to that of DAUD with a bit of spice added from ROAD, GO is a popcorn flick that is definitely a much better dish than RGV's AAG or a SHIVA.