Vibe Review Verdict: Vibe is a genuinely funny, well-written dude comedy that breaks free of the recycled, nostalgia-baiting jokes most Bollywood comedies lean on. Kunal Kemmu writes, acts, and directs this one, and his sense of situational humor lands more often than not. The first half is a riot, the second half cools off a bit as the spy-thriller plot takes over, but overall this deserved far better than the box office numbers it’s currently pulling.
This review stays mostly spoiler-light on the plot twists, but I do talk through the overall structure of the film and its box office situation.
Vibe Quick Verdict
Before I get into the film itself, I want to talk about the vibe, no pun intended, that Kunal Kemmu brings to this genre. In Bollywood comedy, there’s a sub-genre called dude comedies, films that extract humor primarily from the misadventures and organic friendship dynamics between men. Seth Rogen has been one of the only Hollywood talents who’s written these films, played multiple characters in them, and directed a few too; think This Is the End, Superbad, The Interview.
If you asked me who Bollywood’s equivalent of Seth Rogen is, one name lights up immediately, and that’s Kunal Kemmu. Gully Boy, Golmaal Again, Madgaon Express, and recently his Netflix show Single Papa. Kunal has proven again and again that he’s genuinely interested in making dude comedies, and that he can write, act, and direct them too. With Vibe, he proves it once more.
Vibe Movie Info
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Title | Vibe |
| Writer / Director / Lead Actor | Kunal Kemmu |
| Genre | Dude Comedy, Spy Action Thriller |
| Estimated Budget | ₹30-40 crore |
| Day 1 Collection | ₹1.5 crore |
| My Rating | ★★★½ (3.5/5) |
Vibe Story: What It’s Actually About
The story follows two guys living together. Kunal’s character is a clueless slacker, and Sparsh Shrivastava’s character is buttoned-up and proper, the kind of guy who lives strictly by the book. This duo isn’t a new concept; we’ve seen this pairing in plenty of comedies before. What actually matters here is the chemistry between them as friends, and that chemistry between Sparsh and Kunal is genuinely tremendous throughout the film.
Somehow the two of them get pulled into a parody-like spy world, where there’s a character named Madam H, played by Preity Zinta, who recruits them to collect intel and become part of a mission. The country apparently needs them, which is exactly as funny as it sounds given who these two characters actually are.
Vibe Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Kunal Kemmu | Lead, the clueless slacker |
| Sparsh Shrivastava | The by-the-book best friend |
| Preity Zinta | Madam H, the spy handler |
| Yashpal Sharma | Madam H’s sidekick |
| Nirahua | Madam H’s sidekick |
| Urfi Javed | Cameo appearance |
Why Kunal Kemmu Is Bollywood’s Seth Rogen
I keep coming back to this comparison because it’s the best lens to understand what Kunal is doing here. In an industry full of formulaic comedy films leaning on recycled, nostalgia-baiting jokes, Kunal’s writing breaks that fatigue. His comedy borrows heavily from situational, organic humor rather than manufactured gags. If two guys with a genuine brotherly bond are talking, how do they actually talk? What’s their lingo? How does this generation actually speak? Kunal understands all of this well, and it shows in every conversation between his two leads. There are no forced gags here, no jokes that feel lifted off a WhatsApp forward.
What Makes Vibe’s Comedy Actually Work
Something worth watching for specifically in the first half is how the shots between Kunal and Sparsh feel. They’re scripted, obviously, but the scenes feel heavily improvised in how they land. You genuinely feel like you’re watching two guys talk, and the jokes bounce back and forth without ever feeling forced.
It’s not written like, here’s the line, deliver it, laugh will follow. Whenever either of them says something, it genuinely lands. You won’t burst out laughing every time, but you’ll smirk, you’ll giggle, and that’s harder to sustain than one big laugh.
Written comedy can look good on paper, but delivery is what makes or breaks it. Kunal wrote all the dialogue and screenplay himself, and he’s also acting in it, so there’s real conviction in how his jokes land. The first half is back-to-back jokes, and about 90% of them never feel forced, with roughly 95% actually landing.
He also merges comedy of errors and comedy of mistaken identity well into the screenplay, with parody bits, callbacks to iconic films, and Bollywood actor names used in genuinely hilarious ways. The first half sets up the premise well, and you get pulled into the story right from the start.
The Chemistry Between Kunal And Sparsh
I want to single this out because it’s the foundation the entire film is built on. The duo dynamic itself, a slacker and a straight-laced friend, isn’t new. We’ve seen it in plenty of comedies before. But what matters here is how believable these two feel as actual friends, and that chemistry is genuinely tremendous throughout.
Whether they’re bantering, panicking, or getting dragged into increasingly absurd situations, the friendship feels real, and that realness is what carries a lot of the comedy.
Preity Zinta’s Surprising Comic Turn
I’ll be honest, from the moment the teaser dropped, Preity Zinta’s casting felt like one of the weaker links to me. I didn’t expect much. But she’s done a genuinely entertaining job here. As Madam H, she plays it serious about her mission, but there’s a real awareness, from her character and her agency, that they’ve ended up stuck with these two idiots. Whenever Preity, Kunal, and Sparsh share a scene, especially in the first half, those moments are hilariously written and well put together.
Yashpal And Nirahua Steal Every Scene
Yashpal and Nirahua play Madam H’s sidekicks, and this is what proper character creation looks like. These two are written well enough that a Vibe 2 or Vibe 3 with them still around would make you laugh all over again. The kind of funny characters you’ll remember days after watching the film.
For me, it clicked: a web show called Guns & Gulaabs. What makes them work is that their reactions to Kunal and Sparsh’s antics are never over the top. There’s no forced comic exaggeration anywhere. They’re just doing their job, straight-faced, and that’s exactly what makes it hilarious.
The Urfi Javed Cameo
Kunal’s writing manages to get real work even out of Urfi Javed. Her cameo is small and inconsequential in the grand scheme of the plot, appearing early on, but it never feels awkward or cringe-worthy, more than I expected going in.
Sparsh Shrivastava’s Underrated Straight-Man Act
Sparsh has already proven his acting ability in past work, but here he’s playing something trickier than it looks. It’s a comedic role that isn’t entirely comedic, because his character is the serious one in this duo. He had to extract humor from a straight, by-the-book character purely through performance, and he pulls it off fabulously. His timing as the exasperated, rule-following friend does a lot of quiet heavy lifting.
The Love Story That Actually Works
The first half never wastes time, not even on the romantic subplot. I initially assumed the love story between Kunal’s character and the female lead would feel tacked on. It isn’t. It’s fairly fundamental to the story and shown with real sweetness, not the in-your-face kind with songs and tree-circling and overdone romance. It’s a simple, cute love story, and its attached song is unmemorable but won’t bother you either.
Where The Second Half Loses Some Steam
The second half is where opinions on this film are going to diverge, and here’s why. The first half builds a parody-like, slapstick world where the currency is comedy, and it consistently lands. Naturally, you expect the second half to elevate that further.
Sadly, that’s not quite what happens. The first half feels like comedy first, action-thriller second, which is right since comedy is this film’s selling point. But the second half starts taking its action-thriller plot more seriously, and comedy, relative to the first half, noticeably recedes without disappearing entirely.
Personally, I didn’t mind this shift, but I suspect a lot of viewers will. I actually thought the spy and action-thriller angle is cooked up well, and the seriousness of that spy universe stays intact with no real loopholes. Overall, the second half is a little underwhelming compared to the first, but it never broke my overall experience.
The second half also has a couple of twists written with real intention, not taking it for granted that a comedy audience won’t take a twist seriously. There’s a bike sequence on a runway and a shirtless fight scene, both staged well even if they sound nonsensical described out loud, and there’s a genuinely hilarious explanation behind them in the story.
There’s also a full fight sequence involving Preity Zinta as a blonde that felt a little out of place to me, one the film could’ve done without. There’s a terrorist situation woven in too. And yes, you’ll find out exactly why the film is called Vibe by the time it ends.
Is Vibe As Funny As Madgaon Express?
There’s been a lot of chatter comparing Vibe’s writing unfavorably to Madgaon Express. Here’s my honest take. Madgaon Express’s writing and universe cater to a completely different topic, and Vibe exists in a completely different universe altogether, so the comedy here is fundamentally different by nature. Madgaon Express had three leads, Vibe has two, and that alone changes how jokes get written, delivered, and land.
If Madgaon Express was a genuinely well-written film, Vibe is no less. In fact, once you watch the climax, you’ll realize a sequel could come together easily. But that’s exactly where this film’s misfortune comes in.
The Box Office Disaster Nobody Saw Coming
Vibe was made on an estimated budget of ₹30-40 crore. Its day one collection was a mere ₹1.5 crore, and looking at the trajectory of bookings, there’s a real chance it gets pulled from most theaters before the next weekend arrives.
The exact same thing happened with Madgaon Express. That film wasn’t a huge theatrical success either, and it only got its due once it landed on OTT. It’s a bitter truth that dark comedy and dude comedy genres don’t find a huge box office audience here. This film doesn’t deserve collections this low, and I’ll say this on record: whenever it lands on Amazon Prime, likely their streaming partner, people will treat it the same way they eventually treated Madgaon Express once it hit streaming.
When filmmakers like Kunal bring honest, smaller-budget comedies to theaters and they don’t collect, we turn around and complain about why filmmakers like Farhad Samji and Milap Zaveri keep making the comedies they make instead, and how films like Housefull 4 or Welcome to the Jungle earn 100 crore. I’m not saying Vibe deserved to earn 100 crore.
I’m saying the collections it’s currently getting are genuinely disheartening, and it should have at least broken even within 10 days, which doesn’t look like it’s happening. When responses like this keep happening, writers and directors stop investing their time in this kind of material, and we end up back with the same recycled, nostalgia-baiting comedies.
What Vibe Gets Right
Organic, situational comedy. Never forced, never lifted from recycled jokes, genuinely funny writing.
Kunal and Sparsh’s chemistry. The believable friendship at the film’s center carries most of the humor.
Preity Zinta. A genuinely surprising, entertaining comic performance.
Yashpal and Nirahua. Memorable, well-written side characters who steal scenes without ever going over the top.
The love story. Simple, sweet, and never overdone.
What Could Be Better
The second half’s tonal shift. Comedy takes a noticeable back seat as the spy-thriller plot gets more serious.
Preity Zinta’s blonde fight sequence. Feels out of place compared to the rest of the film.
Box office reality. None of this is the film’s fault creatively, but it’s worth knowing this is struggling commercially and may not stay in theaters long.
Vibe Pros & Cons
✓ Pros
- Genuinely funny, organic dude comedy writing that avoids recycled jokes
- Strong, believable chemistry between Kunal Kemmu and Sparsh Shrivastava
- Surprisingly entertaining comic performance from Preity Zinta
- Memorable, well-crafted side characters in Yashpal and Nirahua
- Well-executed twists in the second half that are taken seriously
- A sweet, understated love story that never overstays its welcome
✗ Cons
- Second half noticeably cools off on the comedy as the action-thriller plot takes over
- Preity Zinta’s blonde fight sequence feels tonally out of place
- Struggling badly at the box office, which may limit its theatrical run
Is Vibe Worth Watching?
Yes, genuinely. This isn’t a mind-blowing, blockbuster-level comedy, but it’s a very good one, and there’s an honest creative effort on display from Kunal Kemmu throughout. If you have the time and the money to spare, I’d say go watch it at least once in theaters while you still can.
Vibe Rating: My Honest Breakdown
| Category | My Score |
|---|---|
| Writing / Screenplay | ★★★★ |
| First Half Comedy | ★★★★½ |
| Second Half / Thriller Elements | ★★★ |
| Cast Performances | ★★★★ |
| Chemistry | ★★★★½ |
| Overall | ★★★½ (3.5/5) |
Vibe Where To Watch
Vibe is currently playing in theaters, though given its extremely weak opening collections, it may get pulled from a majority of theaters before the next weekend arrives. If you want to catch it on the big screen, I’d recommend not waiting too long.
There’s no confirmed streaming date yet, but based on the pattern with Kunal’s earlier film Madgaon Express, it’s likely to land on Amazon Prime Video eventually, and I suspect it’ll finally get the appreciation it deserves once it’s easily accessible there.
Final Verdict
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Writing / Screenplay | ★★★★ |
| Direction | ★★★★ |
| Lead Performances | ★★★★ |
| Comedy | ★★★★ |
| Second Half Pacing | ★★★ |
| Overall | ★★★½ (3.5/5) |
Vibe isn’t a blockbuster, and I won’t pretend it is. But it’s a genuinely good, honest comedy from a filmmaker who clearly understands this genre better than almost anyone else working in Bollywood right now.
The first half is consistently funny in a way that feels organic rather than manufactured; the chemistry between Kunal and Sparsh carries the film, and even the second half’s tonal shift toward the spy-thriller plot is handled with more care than it gets credit for. It deserved a far better box office run than it’s getting, and I genuinely hope it finds its audience on streaming the way Madgaon Express eventually did.
It doesn’t quite carry the weight its title promises, but I had a good time with it, and I’m curious what this director does next. If you’re deciding which movie to watch next, explore our latest reviews of Coyote vs. Acme Review, Insidious: Out of the Further Review, Buddy Review, The Dog Stars Review, Mandaadi Review, Resident Evil 2026 Review, and Irumudi Review.
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Vibe Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Is Vibe a good movie?
Ans. Yes, genuinely. It’s a well-written, well-performed dude comedy with real chemistry between its leads and situational humor that avoids the recycled jokes common in Bollywood comedies. The second half cools off on comedy a bit as the plot gets more serious, but it never breaks the overall experience.
Q. What is my Vibe movie rating?
Ans. I’d rate Vibe 3.5 out of 5. The writing, the first-half comedy, and the chemistry between the leads are genuine highlights, while a tonal dip in the second half keeps it from ranking even higher.
Q. Who is in the Vibe 2026 cast?
Ans. Kunal Kemmu leads the film, which he also wrote and directed, alongside Sparsh Shrivastava as his best friend. Preity Zinta plays Madam H, with Yashpal Sharma and Nirahua as memorable supporting sidekicks, plus a small cameo from Urfi Javed.
Q. Where can I watch Vibe?
Ans. Vibe is currently in theaters, though its weak opening collections mean it may not stay in a majority of theaters much longer. No streaming date has been confirmed, but it’s likely headed to Amazon Prime Video eventually based on the pattern with Kunal Kemmu’s earlier film Madgaon Express.
Q. What is Preity Zinta’s next film?
Ans. In Vibe, Preity Zinta plays Madam H, a spy handler, and delivers a genuinely entertaining comic performance that surprised me given my expectations from the marketing.
Q. What is a vibe movie in terms of genre?
Ans. Vibe belongs to the dude comedy genre, a sub-genre built around organic, situational humor extracted from male friendships, similar to the kind of films Seth Rogen is known for in Hollywood. It also blends in spy and action-thriller elements, particularly in its second half.
Q. Is Vibe better than Madgaon Express?
Ans. They’re not directly comparable since they exist in completely different universes with different casts and comedic dynamics. If Madgaon Express was well written, Vibe is no less so, even though the two films cater to different comedic sensibilities.
Vibe is currently playing in theaters, with limited screenings expected to continue.
