Review: 'Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video' Tries too Hard to Basically Do Nothing

In a lot of mainstream movies today, comedy has devolved from being a genre and has become a ‘gimmick’ – as if to serve your film on a tray and say, ‘Look we made a funny film’. ‘What’s the difference?’ you might think, ‘Funny’s funny, right?’ except funny needs intention. 

Even the most slapstick sequences require a design – the setup and the punchline must both be planned and executed well. And while there are times when a well-timed, cheeky dig might land and make people laugh, that is not all a film can rely on.

I remember people, yours truly included, calling Bad Newzz an extended reel – it was one gimmick and joke after another. And Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video is no different. Funnily though, Bad Newzz wasn’t the first film that came to mind when the trailer released – instead, I found myself thinking of Sajini Shinde Ka Viral Video. 

Both films couldn’t be more different in tone, granted, but they both had a similar thread – the possibility of lives being upended because of one video. 

Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video, as a title, is quite self-explanatory – a newlywed couple, Vicky (Rajkummar Rao) and Vidya (Triptii Dimri) find themselves in hot water when a robbery takes place at their house. Amongst the things stolen is a CD containing a video from their wedding night.

From the very beginning, the film sets its tone – several characters are introduced purely through their quirks and they all start saying their lines, always leading up to the next joke. They live with Vicky’s grandfather (Tiku Talsania) and the domestic help who is called ‘naukrani’ Chanda because she shares her name with Vicky’s sister Chanda (Mallika Sherawat).

The sister Chanda is introduced as someone who frequently elopes from home in search of career opportunities but soon that arc becomes about her eloping ‘with men’ – just when you think they can’t do more disservice to the character, you find her promising a man that she’s “pure”. And that is why everyone around her shouldn’t judge her, not because she practically did nothing wrong. 

For a film that ends in a passionate monologue about women’s safety, Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video often finds a woman to put down.

Chanda (not the sister) is considered undesirable because she isn’t ‘thin’ – naturally there is the matter of the class divide too – and nobody bats an eye when a cop, clearly in a position of power, continues to make advances at an uncomfortable Chanda (yes, the sister). 

While I might have a host of opinions about director Raaj Shaandilyaa's films, one can’t deny that they resonated with the audience, most notable the Dream Girl films. And while the first half of this film has some vestiges of the same appeal, it soon runs out of steam and the story starts to cluck through the runtime like a headless chicken.

A scene in a cemetery ends in a Stree homage that is only mortifying to sit through because you find yourself wondering, ‘What decisions have I made in life to have ended up here on a Friday?’

And it’s not like there are no ideas to explore in the film – Vidya should have been at the forefront of the film’s discussion. This is a film set in Rishikesh in 1997 and this is a woman whose ‘wedding night’ video could be anywhere. The film does have scenes where the fear and panic of this situation, especially for Vidya, is touched upon but never enough to have an actual impact. Even an argument that seems to give you little hope for something bigger is resolved almost instantly to give away to a nonsensical segue. 

One joke after another simply doesn’t make a funny film and the scenes that do work – the jokes that do land – do so because of the cast. Archana Puran Singh is especially memorable because of her comic timing and physical comedy. Tiku Talsania is playing on home ground in this genre – he is funny, he has been funny. Shaandilyaa seems to mount one elaborate sequence after another in the hopes that one will be funnier than the last and in that, the story of Vicky and Vidya is lost.

The screenplay, credited to the director, Ishrat Khan, Yusuf Ali Khan, and Rajan Agarwal, is especially choppy and predictable. And this is a film where being able to predict the next scene is like realising you have more chores to do after you thought you were done. 

This is especially a pity considering the cast – both Rao and Dimri are brilliant actors. Rajkummar Rao has perfected the man from a small town archetype and yet he manages to add details to each of his characters that makes them distinct. Even Vicky is a typical Rao character – a man not defined by toxic masculinity in a world that still operates around it – the ladies tailor in Stree becomes a sought-after mehendi waala here.

Triptii Dimri as Vidya makes you wish there was more of her on screen; her presence and her chemistry with Rao are like a breath of fresh air in a film that almost pushes you out of your seat. The duo, when not weighed down by the shoddy script, still gives you something to watch. 

There isn’t really much to write about Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video and that should tell you everything. Perhaps if the film had something more to say, I would have something to say about the film. 

And if it wasn’t for the earnest effort the cast puts in to make things work; to try and squeeze out a passable movie when they’re armed with practically nothing but their skill, I wouldn’t even be morbidly curious about what we will see next with Vicky Vidya Ka Woh Wala Video. 

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