Govinda Naam Mera

Shashank Khaitan's 2022 Hindi film puts Vicky Kaushal on screen as an out-of-work backup dancer. His life is squeezed from three sides: a wife who refuses to divorce, a girlfriend with whom he has built a separate life, and an ongoing case over his father's property. Then a murder enters the picture. The film sits between black comedy and mainstream Bollywood entertainment. Bhumi Pednekar plays the wife and Kiara Advani the girlfriend, and the script works, with partial success, to keep both from being one-dimensional. Kaushal's comic timing is the best thing in it; an actor usually seen in heavy roles is working completely loose here, which is a surprise. It went straight to a streaming platform rather than cinemas, and that seems to have shaped its pace: short segments, a plot that keeps changing direction, no space left to settle. Who it's for: viewers wanting a light crime comedy and curious about Vicky Kaushal in a different register. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a coherent crime plot; the logic gives way in several places.