Mumbai: Guest Iin London, starring Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Kharbanda in the leading roles, along with Paresh Rawal and Tanvi Azmi, has a lot more than to offer than most people would imagine; but NOT in a good way.
The film was meant to be a light-hearted comedy, and not only does it not fit the bill, Guest Iin London may not be suitable for any category, comedy or otherwise.
The movie was expected to be in the rom-com genre, but as it turns out, it's a bit of a thriller mystery too
Guest Iin London starts with Aryan (Kartik Aaryan) wanting to do a fake wedding with a UK citizen, Anaya (Kriti Kharbanda), so that he can settle in the country. Unexpectedly and uninvited, two of their apparently distant relatives turn up in London, Paresh Rawal and Tanvi Azmi.
Anaya stays at Aryan's house to convince everyone and the court that they're actually getting married, which is when the relatives enter and the situation gets messy.
This is the part where the relatives and the couple together clash and result in comedic relief, but nothing of the sort happens. The humour of the situation completely falls flat. There's no joke in the movie that makes an impact.
I heard a few laughs in the theatre, but I'm pretty sure they were laughing at the movie, and not with it.
Apart from the non-funny jokes, there were also many insensitive jokes in the movie.
In a scene where Aryan's boss is seen harassing an employee who is from China, Paresh Rawal interferes and says 'women get destroyed, and she is Chinese, she will get destroyed faster'.
Another scene involves Paresh Rawal asking the Pakistani neighbour what he wants to drink, to which the neighbour responds by saying 'Kashmir'. To this, Paresh Rawal's character farts. Yes, flatulence. This is an actual scene from Guest Iin London.
Talking about Rawal's character farting, that seems to be a consistent personality trait throughout the movie. Needless to say, it's completely distasteful and not one bit funny.
Meanwhile the couple gets married, and of course in the middle of this, they've fallen in love with each other.
By this point, this movie has stopped being anything less than torture, and the twist doesn't make up for it.
We were so involved trying to digest this film, that nobody thought about the real reason why the relatives were in London. Spoiler alert: It involves a connection to 9/11 attacks and a cameo by Ajay Devgn.
Guest Iin London could've been a nice, bubble-gum romance. Kartik Aryan looks good and plays the role well, so does Kriti Kharbanda. They've been styled well too.
But with the added layers of annoyance, Guest in London is in line to win the award for the worst film of the year.
