Govinda Naam Mera Movie Review: Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar and Kiara Advani Bring Their A-Game to This Fun Comic Caper (LatestLY Exclusive)

Govinda Naam Mera Movie Review: Shashank Khaitan's Govinda Naam Mera is a comic crime thriller that takes some interesting twists and turns, and becomes quite a decent entertainer to watch. Ok, there I said it. You can shut down this review and watch the movie, or if you love hating Dharma Productions and its boss who has an opinion on everything, do check out a review that disses the film. For what kind of harmless stakes it has to offer. Govinda Naam Mera is a fun film that holds no ambitions of being anything else apart from that. Govinda Naam Mera: Katrina Kaif Attends Special Screening of Hubby Vicky Kaushal’s Film; Couple Poses Together for the Paparazzi at the Event.

Govinda Waghmare (Vicky Kaushal) is someone who owns misfortune even before his birth, right from the time his dead Tamilian stunt-master father turns out to be a two-timing fraudster. Even his birth certificate betrays him by misspelling his name. As an adult, Govinda and his 'paralysed' mother (a hilarious Renuka Shahane) are about to lost their house to his step-brother (Akshay Gunawat) and his mother. What's more, he is stuck in a loveless marriage with a shrew of a wife in Gauri (Bhumi Pednekar).

When it comes to his career, Govinda aspires to be a choreographer but is stuck being a background dancer, along with his girlfriend Suku (Kiara Advani). Govinda is also heavily in debt with a corrupt cop Inspect Javed (Dayanand Shetty), and then gets into the bad books of a political mafioso Ajit Dharker (Sayaji Shinde) while shooting a music video for his dopehead influencer son (Jeeva). To complicate matters further for Govinda, he stumbles upon drugs worth crores and also a dead body in his house! Whether the unfortunate Govinda manages to scramble his way out of his mess or find himself always at the losing end is what the rest of the film is all about.

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Govinda Naam Mera amuses in the first half setting up its protagonist's unfortunate situation, enabled by the wonderful performances of the entire cast. Vicky Kaushal (a charming deviation from his usual serious roles), Bhumi Pednekar (just too good), Kiara Advani (beautiful and spunky) bring their A-game to their roles, and make the proceedings fun. A very dependable supporting cast, with humorous turns from Amey Wagh (who plays Govinda's advocate friend), Shinde and Jeeva, also help the matters. A peppy soundtrack and a superstar cameo in the "Bijli" song pepper up the proceedings. So far, quite decent. Govinda Naam Mera: Ranbir Kapoor to Make a Cameo in Vicky Kaushal-Kiara Advani's Film.

Things get better in the second half when the narrative injects a thriller element without losing on its light-hearted treatment, the film throws in a couple of twists and certain characters are revealed to be not what they seemed to be. I did wish that Govinda and Gauri's relationship, and the exact problems that turned them away from each other emotionally were explored a bit more, since they play a crucial part in understanding a certain plot reveal. But apart from that, Govinda Naam Mera is quite engaging here.

The third act has a 'Gotcha' treatment, and while it isn't anything groundbreaking as such, Govinda Naam Mera doesn't insult your brains either. Like, for example, there are a couple of scenes in the first half that I thought to be very odd editing cuts. However, they prove to be innocuously deceiving when the movie goes into 'reveal' mode. It is like Govinda Naam Mera is baiting the viewer in me to think less of it, only to pull off the pleasantly surprise rug from under my feet. And I did like that!

Final Thoughts

Govinda Naam Mera turns out to be decent surprise, a fun comic caper with entertaining performances from the whole cast, led by Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar and Kiara Advani in good form. Govinda Naam Mera is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 16, 2022 10:00 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).