Bhool Chuk Maaf review: Brahmastra meets Russian Doll in this tiresome time loop tale

Unnecessary over-explanations, a cast that’s criminally underutilized and a climax we didn’t need, makes Bhool Chook Maaf a lackluster watch at the cinemas!

Bhool Chuk Maaf review: Maddock Films is widely known for its horror-comedy universe with blockbusters like Stree, Stree 2 and Munjya. So it’s safe to say that they clearly know what to do with the genre. But recently, with films like Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya and now Bhool Chook Maaf, this sci-fi meets rom-com genre doesn't really seem to be working for them. Mainly because neither of those genres come out well in these movies. It’s not just that; Rajkummar Rao - a Maddock favorite, has had a rather bad streak at the box office recently. With Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Waala Video and now Bhool Chuk Maaf, his choice in films seem to be concerningly below average. There’s a certain reputation that he has cemented for himself as an actor over the years and sadly, with his recent releases, that seems to be lost!

Directed by Karan Sharma, Bhool Chuk Maaf revolves around Ranjan (Rajkummar Rao), an unemployed man living off his mother’s pickle business. He is madly in love with Titli (Wamiq Gabbi) and the two want to get married ASAP! But Titli’s father will agree to the alliance only if Ranjan lands himself a government job within two months. Confused and anxious about what to do, he goes to a Shiva temple to ask for the solution to his problems. After consulting a pandit ji, he promises Lord Shiva that if he finds a good job and marries Titli, he will repay him by doing a good deed. But the truth of that matter is that government jobs in India are either based on luck or scams. Ranjan chooses the latter and naively gets himself a job. As wedding festivities begin, Ranjan finds himself stuck in an endless time loop where he re-lives the day of his Haldi again and again. He is the only one who's aware of this and the frustration of being so close to his wedding yet so far starts to frustrate the living hell out of him.

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There are a series of issues with Bhool Chuk Maaf. Firstly, the main plot of the film, which is the time loop, arrives when you’re a good one hour into the film. By the time you figure out that the time loop is the main arc, you’re already done with the film. The time loop is half baked and not well executed. There are endless films and series like Netflix’s Russian Doll or Andy Samberg’s Palm Springs that are good examples of this genre. Bhool Chuk Maaf just feels like a poor version of that.

A time loop should have even the minutest of details replicated each day, in the same way, without one thing being here or there, to the point that you as an audience feel just as frustrated to re-live the same day as the protagonist would be. But this film re-lives the same day in different forms. One day there’s a haldi ceremony, another day there’s an item song, the next day there’s a fight on the terrace. Except for a pot that breaks in each version and a badly stitched sherwaani, there’s nothing common.

The film is set in Banaras and it doesn't let you forget that; there are aerial shots of it every two minutes. Each song is worse than the other, including a romantic track between Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi that tries too hard to be the next Kesariya. It’s the same shots with a bunch of genda fool falling on them and the duo running around the ghats like Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, and not to forget the film’s connection to Lord Shiva. But the chemistry between the leads itself falls flat. Titli is either making baby faces or shouting at him for being good for nothing and vice versa. It makes you wonder if, by the end of it, they’d realize that they in fact aren’t made for each other. 

But no, the movie takes a much weirder turn. It preaches the ‘humanity and kindness above all’ lesson to its audience. It also tries to dab into communal harmony among different religions, it even belittles mental health at one point. It is trying to do so many things in the last hour that it comes off as confused. This film leaves you wondering what was the point of it all and unfortunately, the only memorable thing about this is going to be its theatre vs OTT release controversy. 

Bhool Chuk Maaf is currently streaming at a theatre near you!

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