In his directorial debut, Kunal Kemmu delivers a delightful buddy comedy

Kunal Kemmu made his Bollywood debut as a child actor, and continued to hone his craft as an adult. Yet he seemed almost destined to sit in the director’s chair someday. “In your heart, you want to do more, but you never get around and seriously do it. It’s like planning a trip to Goa that rarely happens,” says Kemmu, whose directorial debut Madgaon Express released in theatres on March 22. “I always romanticised the idea but was scared of it. It was getting into unknown.” Back in 2015, the actor had begun giving shape to stories he had in his head. One of them ended up being Madgaon Express, a film about three friends who finally realise their dream to holiday in Goa only for it to go horribly, and funnily, wrong.

More than obsessing over jokes and gags, Kemmu concentrated on developing the characters and how they interact with each other. The humour, he says, comes from the conversations which “end up being funny because of the situation they are in. You are laughing at the horrible time they are going through and the fact that they are punishing and blaming each other, and defending each other.”

The setting and situation are reasons why Kemmu secretly hoped that Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar’s production house, Excel Entertainment, would produce the film. Best known for putting holidaying in Goa on the map with the millennials beloved classic Dil Chahta Hai [DCH] and later producing the buddy comedy franchise Fukrey, Kemmu felt Madgaon Express was up the banner’s alley. “DCH was an inspiration. It [Madgaon Express] was DCH gone wrong,” he said. Having never worked with Excel, he never took the script himself. It’s only when a friend ended up working for the banner that he got a call to come and narrate it.

Kemmu thought he was meeting Akhtar and Sidhwani as a writer and actor. He had in fact written one of the characters – that of Dodo (played by Divyenndu) – for himself, but after narrating and partly performing the story, Akhtar and Sidhwani suggested that Kemmu direct it himself. Kemmu had been told by friends to do so earlier too, but Excel being on board as producers was the push he needed. Says Kemmu, “I have dreamt and seen this film. I just had to make it and deliver it.” That meant both responsibility and pressure. “I also wanted to earn my medal. I didn’t want anybody to feel that he just got lucky and doesn’t know anything. They [Excel] gave me complete freedom,” he added. Kemmu takes pride in the fact that he finished the film on schedule and didn’t overstep the budget.

The experience has left him bitten by the directing bug, and luckily for him, there are more scripts in the vault. “I explored this side of me and enjoyed it. If I didn’t, even if the film was successful, it wouldn’t be great,” says Kemmu. “I love writing and directing equally if not more than acting, which is my first love. I definitely want to do this again. The sense of ownership that you have on something when you make it yourself is unparalleled.”

A contributing factor to the experience was the wonderful set of actors Kemmu had at his disposal. Divyenndu, Pratik Gandhi and Avinash Tiwary are aces at delivering the laughs, with the supporting cast of Upendra Limaye and Chhaya Kadam also adding humour to the proceedings. “They are incredible and versatile actors,” says Kemmu. “Some may not have done comedy [before], but I knew that a good actor will adapt and change. I just need to guide and let them know my vision. The modifications they brought were a welcome change.”

What Madgaon Express ultimately does is remind you how Bollywood has been bereft of good comedies lately. With a run time of 2 hours and 25 minutes, the film never loses momentum which is a big accomplishment especially given how hard it is to make people laugh. “Comedies se pyaar bahut milta hai, par izzat nahi dete [You get a lot of love but not respect]. You are not taken too seriously,” says Kemmu. With his first feature, Kemmu is likely to win both love and respect of the audiences.

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