Indian Institute of Zombies

Indian Institute Of Zombies Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Mohan Kapur, Anupriya Goenka, Jesse Lever, Rose Sardana, Sachin Kavetham, Tanishq Chaudhary

Director: Gaganjeet Singh & Alok Dwivedi

What’s Good: Some earnest performances, alluring cinematography in places, and well-done make-up, prosthetics, and VFX

What’s Bad: Almost everything else, beginning with the story

Loo Break: Anytime! Feel free; you will miss nothing!

Watch or Not?: No! No need to become a zombie yourself, numbed by whatever is going on!

Language: Hindi

Available On: Theatrical release

Runtime: 136 Minutes

User Rating:

An engineering college campus is visited by the wily professor, Dr. Darwendra (Mohan Kapur), who has crossed the thin line between being a genius and going to the nether side of evil. He lectures the best students in the college (who, we are told, outnumber the ‘backbenchers’ who are no good in droves). In collusion with their resident professor, Robert Vader (Jude Taxeria), he convinces the staff and the elite students to consume his special elixir, turning them into superhumans. And what will they gain when they do this, apart from getting those powers? Well, they will become immortal!

What this mad scientist omits to mention is that they will all turn into zombies, who are human only in reaction to visual stimuli like romantic sequences (!!!), live item songs (!!!!!), and complex educational quizzes (hahahaha). The rest of the time, they are busy killing their victims and eating flesh, starting with the neck and imbibing blood as well, vampire fashion.

So who or what will stop them? A scientific prodigy among backbenchers, Kitaab (Ranjan Raj) has developed a drug called ‘Zombiflam’ (the only genuinely witty aspect in this entire cinematic ‘excess’) that can freeze a zombie—but for 10 minutes only, mind(less) you! He has also kept one such zombie captive and is, believe it or not, completely nuts, observing and even manipulating him.

Dr. Braganza (Anupriya Goenka) steps out of nowhere here as one of the professors, armed with a gun, later with a hatchet, and finally with a weapon that seems like an AK-47 made for zombies and resembles one of those expensive toys for kids or from Western action fantasies. Braganza kills them all, staff or student, no bar!

Dr. Darwinder has jammed all networks so that the cops cannot be called and has megalomanic plans to rule the world. What happens next? Finally, apart from the filmmakers’ highly fanciful ambition of making a sequel, this one actually ends on a cliffhanger!

Indian Institute Of Zombies Movie Review: Script Analysis

Now, let us first take Flaw No. 1: Who are the zombies constantly feeding on? Each other? Can’t be! But there are only two categories of people out there that night: the zombies and the very few normal beings. But every zombie is shown soaked with blood, and many are shown with flesh hanging from their mouths as if a sizable human population is on campus for them to gorge on!

Flaw no. 2: How did Kitaab know that he would have to develop ‘Zombiflam,’ and did he do so in minutes, this ‘no good back-bencher? He had just captured a zombie, right? And how did he overpower him? Minutes into the story, we find this veteran zombie!

Flaw no. 3: How did Dr. Braganza also know that Kitaab was working on a formula, and how did she motivate him to make or design more anti-zombie material? This is when Kitaab repeatedly complains of a shortage of raw materials.

Flaw no. 4: The fiendish Dr. Darwinder knew he was converting people into zombies. What on earth did he really want from this transformation? How did he plan to control them worldwide?

I could go on and on…!

Suffice to say here that a ‘Script Analysis’ can be done only when there is a script! And it is shocking to find established names like Hussain Dalal and Abbas Dalal (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, 2 States, Fighter, Rudra: The Edge of Darkness) actually collaborating with ‘story’ writer and producer Kunj Sanghvi and two others—Siddharth Kumar & Husain Hardawala.

Indian Institute Of Zombies Movie Review: Star Performance

Mohan Kapoor and Anupriya Goenka try to make the best of the messy stuff they have become a part of, though I wonder why they wandered into this film sans thought (can’t believe they sauntered into it like zombies!). Jesse Lever as Bhim Bhayankar (his character’s name is never justified), Sachin Kavetham as Rambo, Tanishq Chaudhary as Haggu, the lovelorn Sikh, Shiva Brijrani, Ranjan Raj as Kitaab, and Shantanu Anam as suspended cop Reddy put in some earnest performances, but it’s all finally a waste.