Ghoomketu Review: Nawazuddin Siddiqui loses his charm to a badly written spoof-comedy

By Rashita Sahni

on May 22, 2020

Film: Ghoomketu

OTT: ZEE5

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Anurag Kashyap

Director: Pushpendra Nath Misra

Rating: 2.5 Moons

Not many times does Bollywood make a film about films. Filmmaker Pushpendra Nath Misra's comedy Ghoomketu is a spoof on Bollywood movies featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Anurag Kashyap. ZEE5's 1 hour 42 minutes film that starts off on an interesting note soon becomes a comedy gone wrong. As Nawaz says in the film, 'writing comedy is a serious business' and so it took 8 years for Ghoomketu to release on the OTT platform.

Ghoomketu (Nawasuddin Siddiqui) is named after its hero, a 31-year-old aspiring writer from a small town in UP who wants to make it big in Bollywood. The film opens with him running away from home, leaving behind his joint family. In Mumbai, a corrupt policeman Inspector Badlani (Anurag Kashyap) is tasked with tracking down Ghoomketu's runaway who is trying to convince a producer to buy his terrible scripts. Ghoomketu's life goal is simple - to write a big-budget film and cast A-listers for it. But soon he realizes that he is not meant for a city like Mumbai and an industry like Bollywood. What happens when Ghoomketu decides to return to his village and how destiny plays its part is what this sloppy story is all about.

While the film fails to tickle our funny bones, there are some scenes of Nawazuddin that seem relatable. The only good part about the film is the grand cameos made by Chitrangda Singh, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Amitabh Bachchan and Nikkhil Advani and Nawazuddin narrating it. Wish the special appearances were longer!

Coming to performances, there has to be no doubt that Nawazuddin is an incredible actor. He shows his acting prowess in this film too and manages to leave an impressive mark. However, his on spot comic performance and acing the typical Bollywood style is overshadowed by a badly written storyline. Anurag Kashyap as a bad cop is something he is comfortable with and it suits him well. The supporting cast with Ragini Khanna, Raghuvir Yadav, Ila Arun and Swanand Kirkire make for a good add-on but fail to pack a punch.

Pushpendra Nath Misra tries every trick to make Ghoomketu a perfect spoof comedy but his writing lets down the film. Satya Rai Nagpaul's cinematography is up to the mark but editing by Pushpendra and Kratika Adhikari comes across as immature at several junctures. However, background music by Sneha Khanwalkar and songs match the tone of the film.

Ghoomketu is that spoof-comedy with typical 70s Bollywood masala that stops making sense after a while! Such an irony, bad writing for a film based on the life of an aspiring writer can be one's fall from grace...