Vibe review: Kunal Khemmu again delivers the laughs in second directorial
A smartly directed and impeccably performed action comedy, Vibe more than earns a place alongside the 2013 Go Goa Gone, which had Khemmu as part of the ensemble cast and his directorial debut Madgaon Express in a spiritually connected trilogy about simpletons who find themselves in sticky situations.
A scene from Vibe.
There will be no sophomore slump in Kunal Kemmu’s directorial career, which began with the sleeper hit comedy Madgaon Express (2024). His second movie is called Vibe, and this title is by far the worst thing about it — aside from, perhaps, its bloated length. They explain the meaning behind the title right at the end of its 145-minute run-time — it’s an acronym; surprise, surprise — but there's no denying that it makes the movie sound like a rooftop bar in Delhi’s Hauz Khas. Or worse, an elder millennial’s desperate attempt to attract a young audience.
Vibe is neither a rooftop bar nor is it in need of any publicity gimmicks. It’s a movie that should succeed on positive word-of-mouth alone. A smartly directed and impeccably performed action comedy, the film more than earns a place alongside Go Goa Gone (2013) and Madgaon Express in a spiritually connected trilogy about fools who find themselves in sticky situations.
Comedy turns thriller
In Go Goa Gone, a trio of slackers are caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse; in Madgaon Express, three childhood friends become embroiled in a drug smuggling racket. This time, two utterly ill-equipped man-children are enlisted as secret agents by the government amid threats of a terrorist attack.
In addition to writing and directing Vibe, Kemmu also plays the lead role of Hardik, a recovering addict who discovers that his crush at work has a killer secret. Hardik is the quintessential court jester, a nincompoop who isn’t afraid of making himself the butt of the joke. His “straight-man” foil is Bugs, played by Jamtara (2020) and Laapataa Ladies (2024) breakout Sparsh Shrivastava.
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Bugs addresses Hardik as “bhaiya (brother)” even though they were batchmates at school, but that’s because Hardik was made to repeat the same class thrice before Bugs came along and gave him the confidence to push through.
They’re both indebted to each other for different reasons and their bond forms the backbone of the film’s most pivotal emotional beats. If you don’t buy into their friendship, you aren’t going to be able to swallow some of the movie’s more outlandish bits. After around half an hour of table-setting, Vibe kicks into gear when Hardik is picked up by a covert agency led by the mysterious Madam H, played by Preity Zinta, and informed that he is India’s last hope against an existential threat. A notorious terrorist, Madam H tells Hardik, is planning an attack on Indian soil and the only way to gather intelligence in time is for Hardik to go on a date with the terrorist’s sister.
“This is a job for Tiger or Pathaan! [a reference to the Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan spy thrillers]” Hardik squeals, aware of the far-fetched predicament Vibe has put him in. It helps that the movie is in on the joke; we’ve probably seen dozens of other films present far more ridiculous plots with a completely straight face. All Hardik wanted was to honour the faith that Bugs has been putting in him for years and to woo the pretty girl at work, and here he is now, playing a Dhurandhar.
One for the showman crown?
Vibe is the kind of movie that can succeed only on the strength of its director’s sensibilities. Sure, Kemmu relies far too often on cringe sound effects, but he can be forgiven for this mistake — unlike many of his peers. The state of mainstream comedy in Bollywood is abysmal; cringe sound effects are the least of the industry's problems. Of course, Vibe would’ve been better off without them, because Kemmu is otherwise quite assured in his direction. Together with his acting chops — he has terrific chemistry with both Shrivastava and the magnetic newcomer Vanshika Dhir — he’s the rare actor-director who can now rightfully stake a claim for Bollywood’s “showman” crown.
He gives himself all the best lines in the movie, but Kemmu’s physical comedy is rather underrated.
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And then there is his attention to detail. Madgaon Express had a handful of visual gags that audiences caught on second and third viewings, but Vibe relies more on the sort of slapstick humour you’d see in an instalment of the Naked Gun franchise. Consider the running gag where a sad-sack pencil-pusher at Madam H’s agency keeps dabbing his face with a handkerchief; or the wordlessly hilarious moment where a cab driver makes direct eye contact with a blushing Hardik in his rear-view mirror.
The jokes certainly dry up in the movie’s second half, which revolves primarily around Hardik and Bugs’ secret mission in Bangkok. The tone, which remains firmly in Johnny English (2003) territory for more than an hour, enters the Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) zone towards the end. But why compare Vibe to Hollywood spy comedies when the highest compliment that one can pay it is this: it’s the best movie of its kind since Main Hoon Naa (2004).
