Director: Bosco Leslie Martis
Writers: Jasvinder Bath, Ravi Shankaran
Cast: Aditya Seal, Nikita Dutta, Sahaj Singh, Mokshda Jailkhani, Jason Tham 
Rating: 2/5

Horror comedies have worked well among the Bollywood audience lately. While films like Bhoothnath, Stree, and Bhool Bhulaiyaa are proof, Bosco Leslie Martis’ debut offering simply fails to hit the spot. Martis marks his directorial debut with Rocket Gang — a movie that revolves around five friends i.e. Amarbir (Aditya Seal), Tania (Nikita Dutta), Sahib (Sahaj Singh), Pia (Mokshda Jailkhani), and Binoy aka Bunnu (Jason Tham). A comical journey unfolds upon encountering a volley of ghosts who ask the gang to groove away!

While I’d give that it was a decent attempt by the team to make an almost enjoyable film, the cringe moments (which btw are in plenty in the movie) make you question a lot of things, including why you’re watching the film in the first place.

A random invitation to a resort named Wonder Villa, and the untoward instances that follow set the tone of the movie. Upon their arrival at the resort, the gang finds out that the only staff that the house has are small kids. Nothing fishy about that, right?

They decide to spend the weekend at the resort anyway only to be introduced to the ghosts that lurk within and around the mansion. Turns out, the kids who were playing hosts at the resort had died in the mansion and were subsequently stuck inside the premises.

So, the question remains: Why did they want to meet with this adult group of friends? Um, hold your horses — to be able to participate in the biggest dance competition in India aka Dance India Dance!

The movie then follows their journey to the finale, which just like any other dance film should have ideally made an impact on the viewer, but lacks depth in many aspects. The only good part about the film is probably the climax, which is rather emotional, with mothers becoming the central theme of the most crucial scenes of the film. However, in today’s day and age, the audience is smart enough to
tell the difference between an interesting storyline and a shoddy mesh of familial emotions, comedy (which isn’t even hysterical), and predictable drama.

For a first-time director, Bosco Martis has done a neat job at directing the film, but clearly lacks the finesse that was expected out of him. The performances by the actors are insipid, with far better acting chops displayed by the child artists namely Jayshree Gogoi, Dipali Borkar, Siddhant Vidhikant, Aadvik Mongia, and Tejas Verma.

Jason Tham, Mokshda Jailkhani, and Sahaj Singh are all choreographers turned actors. They fared fairly well as first-timers. The highlight of this movie, however, does not lie in the performances or the storyline, but rather in the songs. Foot-tapping tracks like Nachoge Toh Bachoge and Duniya Hai Maa Ki Godi Mein will instantly become your favorite.

Verdict

You can skip the movie and wait for it to release on OTT. If you have kids, you might want to watch the movie with them, but not alone. Ranbir’s cameo, in the end, could be one of the few reasons that could justify the act of buying tickets for the movie.

(Featured Image Credits: Twitter)