Go Goa Gone

Go Goa Gone is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language zombie action comedy film directed by Raj and D.K. The film features Saif Ali Khan, Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Anand Tiwari and Puja Gupta. It was released on 10 May 2013. Almost one third of the film was shot in Mauritius. It is the first Indian zombie film and has also been described as India's first stoner film. Go Goa Gone was successful at the box office. It received mixed reviews, but it received praise for its pacing, editing and use of zombies, though the screenplay and the second act received criticism. The film becomes a cult film over the years. A sequel titled Go Goa Gone 2 is set for a release by 2025.

Plot
Hardik and Luv are two young men, who live with their roommate/friend Bunny. After Hardik loses his job and Luv gets dumped by his girlfriend, they both decide to tag along with Bunny and go to Goa to relax. In Goa, Luv falls for Luna, and she invites the guys to a rave party, organized by the Russian mafia, which is being held on a secluded island. None of the friends try the new drug as it's very expensive. The next morning, the three men discover that the island has been infected by zombies, they run to their boat, but Luv sees a signal from Luna and he insists they all check for Luna in the hilltop villa. When they reach the villa, they find it stained with blood and Luna hiding inside a room. She tells them about how her friend was feeling sick, who then turned into a zombie and attacked her other friend, and she locked herself. The three save Luna from the villa and stay together in hopes of surviving. When her friends turned zombies attack them on their way, a Russian mafioso, Boris and his associate arrive and kill the zombies.

They plan to use the boat they had used to travel to the island to escape. Boris and Nikolai give their handguns to Luv and Hardik on their insistence and tell them not to waste the bullets. but they waste all the bullets on a single zombie, which Boris has to eventually kill. They find out that the zombies have to be shot in the head for them to die.

On their way, they find a bunch of zombies. Luna and the three climb a tree and Boris and Nikolai hide in bushes to escape them, but Hardik falls from the tree, which alerts a zombie. When it comes to attack Hardik, Boris takes it down with a knife. Boris tells them that it was the new drug, D2RF, for which the party was conducted as a launching ceremony. The drug proved too powerful for the human body to handle and it shut down all the organs except the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for hunger, which drives them to seek out human blood.

Finally, after escaping the forest, they discover that the mainland has also been infested by the zombies, forcing them to find another way to survive. Boris tells them that the boat will come back to its original place due to the cyclic nature of water currents. However, the boat is occupied by a zombie. They find a home vacant and decide to stay there. They find some fruits in the refrigerator, which they eat for the night. Boris thinks Hardik is infected by his Russian hookup, so he tries to kill him. His friends defend him, and Boris asks them to keep an eye on him. Boris leaves the four of them in the house, telling them that he has some important work with Nikolai.

At night after Boris leaves, some zombies find the house and attack them. Luv's idea of playing like a zombie and leaving the house fails, so they run away from the zombies and reach the rave party area, looking for food. They are then attacked by another group of zombies. Bunny gets trapped in a tent and is killed by the zombies. The three manage to escape with the help of Boris and Nikolai, who arrive just in time. On the way, Nikolai gets bit by a zombie, so he stays behind in the forest and the four are grief-stricken.

Luna realizes Boris had gone to get his expensive cocaine back. Whilst waiting for the boat to arrive, Hardik gets a call from Bunny saying he's alive and on top of a tower. The four of them go to rescue him, and Boris gets surrounded by zombies, but the boys and Luna manage to escape.

When they reach Boris' jeep, Bunny tells them that he threw cocaine at the zombies who were coming to attack him. The mixing of the D2RF pill and cocaine made them freeze. They go back to save Boris, throw the cocaine packets towards the sky and tell Boris to shoot them. The trick works, and all the zombies freeze, but Boris still has to take down Nikolai with a rocket launcher. They reach the seaside, waiting for the boat. When it arrives, Boris aims at Ariana, but Hardik tells him not to do it, and he tricks her to get off the boat so they can escape.

They leave the island and come to the conclusion that drugs ruin one's life.

When they arrive at the shores of Goa, they find that the settlement is burning and everything is destroyed. All five take their guns out, and the movie ends on the note – "The End..is near", signalling a zombie apocalypse.

Development
For his role in the film as Russian mafioso turned zombie hunter, Boris, Saif Ali Khan who had no experience of portraying such a character, was given the book The Zombie Survival Guide by the directors as Khan was the first choice. Kunal Khemu was associated with the film writing, and it was his idea to get Saif Ali Khan on board.

The initial idea for the film was to make a crime comedy genre film, but then a zombie comedy was eventually finalised.

Promotion
The film was publicised as India's first "Zom-Com".

The Volkswagen Polo used in the film was selected from a car audition named "My Car Superstar!" in association with Volkswagen India.

Soundtrack
The music was composed by the duo Sachin–Jigar. The lyrics were written by Priya Panchal and Amitabh Bhattacharya, and songs feature the voices of Jigar Saraiya, Talia Bentson, Sachin Sanghvi, Priya Panchal, and Shreya Ghoshal.

Critical reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics and has gathered a cult status in horror comedy.

Piyasree Dasgupta of Firstpost noted that "Go Goa Gone works in a manner similar to why Delhi Belly did" commending it for its "superb pace" and "smart editing". Lisa Tsering of The Hollywood Reporter stated that "the film starts out promisingly" calling its soundtrack "infectious" while also criticising its screenplay for "fizzling out halfway through".

Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 3.5/5 stars and stated that "On the whole, GO GOA GONE is experimental since something like this has never been attempted earlier. But it's fun, witty, amusing and yes, thoroughly entertaining". Meena Iyer of Times of India gave it 3 out of 5 stars and said "Go Goa Gone is positively different from anything you have seen before. And for the young and restless or even those who like whacked-out fun, it's a great ride.". Namrata Joshi of Outlook rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and summarised by saying "It's fun, sharp, smart and irreverent. Go Goa Gone pushes many of our sanctimonious envelopes."

Rajeev Masand gave the film a 3/5 rating and wrote, "So much in this film is good, until it all goes nowhere in the end."

Shubir Rishi of Rediff.com gave it 2.5/5 stars and said: "Go Goa Gone" is a fun watch. There are plenty of innocent-sounding, slow-exploding one-liners, which are funny". Anupama Chopra of Hindustan Times gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars stating that, "The problem with Go Goa Gone is too much cleverness and not enough plot. Shubhra Gupta The Indian Express rated the film 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The film would have been funnier if the second act hadn't gone into a slide. And also if Khan hadn't played Boris so straight."

Sequel
Shooting for Go Goa Gone 2 was to start in January 2019 but was pushed to September 2020 due to actors’ unavailability of dates. The first look poster of the film was released by Maddock Films on 15 January 2020 on their social media handles with a release date of March 2021. The film shoot was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The sequel will see Saif Ali Khan, Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Anand Tiwari and Puja Gupta reprising their roles. The film is expected to be continued from where it left off.