Vibe Story
Hardik (Kunal Kemmu) is recovering from his time at the rehab and begins a new life by landing a job at a tech company, with the help of his friend Bhagirath aka Bugs (Sparsh Shrivastava). An office romance with intern Kareena (Vanshika Dhir) blossoms and soon, lovestruck Hardik finds that there is something fishy at his romantic front. A date goes unexpectedly wrong leaving Hardik and eventually Bugs, having to deal with a global threat as Indian intelligence officials, led by Madam H, (Preity Zinta) raises suspicion and closes in on them.
Vibe Review
When Kunal marked his debut as a director with Madgaon Express (2024), it was a shot in the dark. Well-written and elevated by a solid cast, the film did not shy away from embracing its absurdity and established the actor as a writer/director who could bring back the charm and humour of good, old Priyadarshan comic capers, to a much more contemporary audience that turns to internet memes and roasts for its entertainment. Reviews raved about the actor’s own filmography where his performances in ‘Dhol’, ‘Go Goa Gone’, subsequent ‘Golmaal’ instalments and ‘Lootcase’, have been widely celebrated by cinephiles.
It’s given that expectations are high and audiences would hope that some of the magic spills over in ‘Vibe’. But sadly, that’s not the case. ‘Vibe’ begins with a decent premise and coasts along well when Kunal keeps the writing centred around jokes involving industry peers and popular film titles. He shares a great bonhomie with Sparsh who is equally charming as the straight-laced lad. Together, the two actors effortlessly lift the first half.
Post the interval, the writing shifts tone and matters go downhill. Uneven side tracks convolute the plot further and the eventual pay-off, which attempts at evoking patriotism, is underwhelming and contrived. Which is disappointing as Kunal is capable of delivering more tasteful comedy than many of the sorry franchises that keep getting revived, time and again. Vanshika is easy on the eye and is able to pack a punch when the situation demands.
Preity is mostly channelling her inner Lara Croft, while wearing crisp skirt sets. Her uneven American accent and dialogue delivery makes her sound like an electronic device talking back to you. Dinesh Lal Yadav and Yashpal Sharma have very little to offer as Madam H’s assistants Bansi and Rawal, respectively. Well-meaning cameos by Sharmila Tagore, Uorfi Javed and Aaditya Kulshresth further crowd the screenplay.
The music, composed by various talents including Amit Trivedi, Bharath, Raghav Meattle, Ashutosh Anand, Kanishka Pal and Kemmu himself, is integrated within the screenplay for formality’s sake. The placement is questionable as the music and the dialogues exchanged within the scenes often overlap and hence, neither of them are comprehensible.
Vibe verdict
Irrespective of how ‘Vibe’ fares at the box-office, Kunal should be wary of not resorting to a formula, which is already evident with the way his current film has been designed. Following the fanfare that ‘Go Goa Gone’ enjoys and the reception that ‘Madgaon Express’ drew, ‘Vibe’ has been clearly mounted, relying on the optics of the earlier films. But the novelty has faded and maybe, it’s time to explore newer pastures.
