🎬 Bhool Chuk Maaf (2025) – Film Review
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Time Loop
Director: Anand Tiwari
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Wamiqa Gabbi, Sheeba Chaddha, Akshay Oberoi
Runtime: 124 minutes
Language: Hindi
Release Date: 23 May 2025
Plot Summary
Bhool Chuk Maaf revolves around the character of Atul (Rajkummar Rao), a perfectionist wedding planner from Delhi, who finds himself stuck in a bizarre time loop on the day of a chaotic destination wedding in Udaipur. His meticulous nature clashes with the unpredictability of real life—and especially with the bride’s feisty best friend, Ria (Wamiqa Gabbi), who seems to have her own mysterious past and a key to the puzzle of the day that keeps resetting.
As the loop keeps replaying, Atul begins to shed his arrogance, unpack his own childhood trauma, and ultimately discovers that control isn’t love—and that imperfection can be beautiful. The film deftly balances comedy and introspection, leading up to a final act that’s both hilarious and heartwarming.
🎭 Performances
⭐ Rajkummar Rao as Atul
Rao once again delivers a standout performance, fully embracing the physical comedy and emotional complexity of a character who begins as frustratingly uptight but gradually becomes deeply relatable. His comic timing is razor-sharp, especially in sequences where he re-lives the same conversations with increasing exasperation and improvisational brilliance. Yet it’s his quieter moments—his eyes reflecting exhaustion, longing, regret—that elevate the film from a generic comedy to something poignant.
⭐ Wamiqa Gabbi as Ria
Wamiqa Gabbi continues her meteoric rise in Bollywood with a performance that is equal parts fiery, funny, and soulful. As the unflappable counterweight to Rao’s spiraling protagonist, she injects much-needed warmth and spontaneity. She commands attention even in dialogue-light scenes, bringing an effortless charisma that complements the film’s whimsical tone.
⭐ Sheeba Chaddha & Akshay Oberoi
Sheeba Chaddha as the chaos-inducing matriarch of the wedding family is a scene-stealer. Her role is brief but highly impactful, showcasing her innate comic flair. Akshay Oberoi as the emotionally clueless groom delivers an understated yet effective performance that adds a dimension of realism to the absurdity of the loop.
🎬 Direction & Screenplay
Director Anand Tiwari, known for films like Love Per Square Foot, shows remarkable growth with Bhool Chuk Maaf. The time-loop trope has been tackled before in both Hollywood (Groundhog Day, Palm Springs) and Bollywood (Baar Baar Dekho), but Tiwari infuses it with Indian cultural specificity—wedding politics, emotional repression, passive-aggressive relatives, and the sheer madness of a big fat Indian wedding.
The screenplay (by Sumit Arora and Anand Tiwari) is tight, witty, and rhythmically structured. It uses repetition not as a gimmick, but as a tool for character development. Every loop peels back a new layer of Atul’s psyche, and the final convergence is earned, not rushed. The humor is observational, never slapstick, and the emotional turns feel organic rather than manipulative.
🎼 Music & Sound
The film’s music, composed by Tanishk Bagchi and Aman Pant, enhances rather than overwhelms the story. The title track “Bhool Chuk Maaf” is a peppy yet thoughtful number about forgiveness and self-awareness. “Udaipur Wale Dil” brings the wedding to life with grand flair and catchy choreography, while the soulful “Raaste Wahi” underlines the film’s emotional climax with great tenderness.
The background score by Aman Pant is understated and effective, using sonic cues to indicate the loop resets without becoming overly repetitive.
🎨 Cinematography & Production Design
The visuals by cinematographer Avinash Arun Dhaware (Drishyam 2, Masaan) are a feast. Udaipur's lakes, havelis, and palaces are not just backdrops but characters in themselves—gleaming in gold and blue during the day, mysterious and haunting during the night.
Production design by Sukant Panigrahy adds vibrancy and chaos to the setting. The wedding aesthetics are lavish but believable, and details like cluttered rooms, broken lights, and unpolished surfaces create a lived-in world where comedy and crisis coexist.
✍️ Themes and Subtext
Beyond the time loop and the wedding chaos, Bhool Chuk Maaf explores themes of:
Control vs Surrender: Atul’s arc is about letting go—of control, of guilt, and of expectations.
Forgiveness: The title is not just a pun—it’s a philosophy. Each character harbors some pain that must be acknowledged and forgiven.
Modern Indian Masculinity: Rao’s character starts off emotionally repressed and passive aggressive—a mask that many Indian men are socially conditioned to wear. The loop acts as a therapy session for him to dismantle this armor.
The Indian Wedding Industrial Complex: With biting humor, the film skewers the commercialization and emotional toll of extravagant weddings.
⚖️ Weaknesses
The second act does begin to feel slightly repetitive, especially for audiences already familiar with time-loop films.
A subplot involving Atul’s estranged father feels underdeveloped and could’ve been a more powerful emotional anchor.
The resolution, while satisfying, plays it slightly safe and doesn’t fully embrace the surrealism that the premise could’ve allowed.
Verdict ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Bhool Chuk Maaf is a delightful surprise—a smart, heart-driven comedy that doesn’t insult the intelligence of its audience. It’s breezy but not hollow, charming but not shallow. Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi are in top form, and the script crackles with wit, warmth, and wisdom.
While it may not reinvent the genre, it adds a distinctively Indian flavor to it, making it one of the more memorable Bollywood releases of the year so far.
🔚 Final Word:
“In a world where we all wish we could hit ‘undo’ on our worst days, Bhool Chuk Maaf reminds us that real growth comes from living through the mess—and laughing about it later.”
