Let me start by admitting that I found Rajkummar Rao a little strange as an actor (meaning I thought he wasn’t really actor material as he didn’t look very appealing on screen). So I didn’t watch his films until Covid-19 lockdowns happened and we were stuck at home with our evenings pretty much free. Then, on a friend’s recommendation, I watched a few of his movies like ‘Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana’, ‘Trapped’ and ‘Stree’. There was no doubt that he was a phenomenal actor who portrayed the characters he played with conviction and courage.
The three films I watched were all different from one another; one was a romance, another was a thriller, while Stree was a horror-comedy. The films worked because of Rao’s stellar acting and convincing character portrayal. All three movies have over seven ratings on IMDb. Over time, as I watched his other works like ‘Hit’, ‘Citylights’, ‘Roohi’, ‘Mr and Mrs Mahi’, and ‘Badhaai Do’, I started associating him with someone who only does selective but good work and shines in all his roles.
But Rao, in the last few years, has been doing the same kind of roles back-to-back and it’s getting a little annoying now. I understand that most actors are typecast into a specific kind of role. But Rao is doing himself a disservice by playing a useless, lovestruck, small-town guy who has nothing going for him. He doesn’t come across as charming and irresistible as he’s supposed to. Rather, you pity him and sometimes even want to slap him.
His latest movie ‘Bhool Chuk Maaf’ that released this year is another disaster. The movie is available on Amazon Prime but I insist you give it a miss if you don’t want to suffer a headache. I attribute my headache after watching the movie to the countless times I must have rolled my eyes at Rao’s weird antics and painful acting. It takes a lot of effort to make a movie and I don’t want to say bad things but Bhool Chuk Maaf was a rehash of many different rom-coms we have all watched (and become a little bored of by now).
Ranjan Tiwari (Rao) is a small-town boy from Banaras, India, who is in love with Titli (Wamiqa Gabbi) but Titli’s father doesn’t approve of Ranjan. As someone who doesn’t have a stable job, he thinks Ranjan won’t be able to provide for his family. He agrees to let Titli marry Ranjan on one condition—that he find himself a government job in two months. Unable to get through multiple exams, Ranjan turns to Lord Shiva. Ranjan lands a job but gets stuck in a time loop when he forgets to fulfill his vow.
The plot has potential. It was marketed as a ‘high concept’ comedy. While I have read books where characters have been stuck in time loops, I hadn’t come across a Bollywood movie that explores this entertaining albeit frustrating concept. Had it been better executed and supported by strong acting by the main character, the movie wouldn’t have been such a bore. Gabbi shines in her role as does Sanjay Mishra who plays Bhagwan Das, the agent commissioned to find Ranjan a job. But Rao is at the center of the story and even with great support from the rest of the cast, he isn’t able to keep you hooked.
You feel like you have seen this movie before because you have watched Rao in similar roles in quite a few movies in the past. His role in Bhool Chuk Maaf is reminiscent of his roles in Stree, ‘Vicky Vidya ka Woh Wala Video’, ‘Chalaang’, Mr and Mrs Mahi and a few others that I’m forgetting at the moment. In each of these movies, he’s been reduced to a hapless person who can’t seem to fix his life. He’s a man child who always seems to get girls way out of his league. At least in the movies I have mentioned, his acting was convincing. In Bhool Chuk Maaf, Rao looks bored and disinterested.
The songs are ridiculous to say the least and Rao, who I thought was a decent dancer, makes jerky body movements and strange facial expressions. It was actually difficult to watch. Worse, the tracks also don’t fit seamlessly into the plot and just make the movie drag on pointlessly. I don’t remember the last time I watched a Bollywood flick and didn’t enjoy the choreography. But Bhool Chuk Maaf’s main fault definitely lies in its unconvincing characterization. It’s almost like Rao stepped into this movie from one of his previous movies and just found a new love interest. I hope Rao chooses better scripts and steps away from rom-coms that make him seem like a loser and finally lives up to the potential he showed during his early days in the Hindi film industry.
