Ranjan is all set to marry his sweetheart Titli, even though he is unemployed and regarded as an unsuitable groom by Titli’s family. Ranjan (Rajkummar Rao) wangles a prized government job with the help of the fixer Bhagwan (Sanjay Mishra). But a divine force has aligned against Ranjan. He finds himself reliving the day before his wedding over and over again.

May 29 refuses to move seamlessly into May 30. Ranjan is the only one who knows that he has trapped in a time loop. Bride-to-be Titli (Wamiqa Gabbi) is understandably flummoxed by his bad temper. Worse still, Ranjan can’t find a way to break the pattern.

Karan Sharma’s Bhool Chuk Maaf is (1993) all over again, with Varanasi standing in for Punxsutawney and Bill Murray’s misanthropic weather man replaced by Rajkummar Rao’s anxious idler.

Having introduced the time loop device to Bollywood, Bhool Chuk Maaf settles for the kind of loud, occasionally potty humour that seems to abound in the Hindi-speaking belt. The comedy extracts most of its laughs from Ranjan’s exasperation at being unable to make his family understand what is happening to him.

Ranjan’s parents (Seema Pahwa and Raghubir Yadav) dismiss his woes as pre-wedding blues. Ranjan’s...