Candy and the Pizza Girl Review: Ninad Kamat’s Unhinged Chaos Makes This Quirky Dark Comedy a Bold but Uneven Ride

There’s no neat or conventional way to describe Candy and the Pizza Girl, and that’s precisely its biggest strength — and its biggest weakness. The film thrives on chaos, absurdity, and a wildly unpredictable narrative that rarely gets space in mainstream Bollywood. It’s loud, strange, sometimes outrageous, and completely unapologetic about its tone. You don’t watch this expecting airtight logic; you strap in for a manic, one-night ride through Mumbai’s underbelly where everything that can go wrong, does — in the most bizarre ways possible.

Set over one wild full-moon night, the story follows a chain of bizarre, interconnected events triggered by a single moment gone wrong. Eccentric characters collide as secrets unravel, spiraling into unpredictable chaos. At the center is Ninad Kamat as Bobby, delivering a full-throttle, restless performance that feels like a reinvention. He shifts gears between manic humor, simmering tension, and unhinged energy with fearless commitment. It’s the kind of volatile, dominating turn that holds the film together even when the story threatens to spiral completely out of control.

Director Akkhil Kapur swings big here, attempting a tonally tricky dark comedy that echoes the cult spirit of films like Delhi Belly, Ludo, or Andhadhun. Among the supporting cast, Dara Sandhu brings a natural, effortless cool, Shivani Singh cuts through as Candy with graceful presence, and Priya Banerjee leans fully into the quirky, offbeat avatar of the Pizza Girl. Nimish Shitole and Aniket Sanghavi add texture to the eccentric humor.

What works is the film’s fearless identity. It doesn’t try to please everyone, and that itself feels refreshing in an industry that often plays it safe. The dark, bizarre humor and surreal situations give it distinct cult potential. Some moments are genuinely outrageous in the best way, and the technical ambition — neon-drenched Mumbai nights, Dutch angles, and a trippy visual style — shows clear intent to create something different.

Where it falters is execution. Many conflicts and twists rely too heavily on coincidence rather than clever storytelling, making the absurdity feel random instead of inspired. The non-linear structure sometimes comes across as a patch for weak writing. Pacing is a major issue — even though the story spans just one night, the film drags in places. Dialogues aiming for philosophical depth frequently land as forced or pretentious, and the film never quite decides whether it wants to be a sharp thriller, a black comedy, or pure chaos.

Technically, the film is ambitious but uneven. The cinematography’s heavy neon aesthetic and trippy visuals are stylish at first but start feeling repetitive. The background score often overwhelms the dialogue, and tighter editing could have kept the momentum alive.

• Candy and the Pizza Girl* is a bold, experimental ride that tries to break the box, reshape it, and then laugh at the pieces. It has moments of inspired madness and standout performances, especially from Ninad Kamat, Dara Sandhu, and Shivani Singh, but it lacks the discipline and precision needed to make its chaos truly satisfying. It may frustrate as many viewers as it delights, and it will likely build a cult following over time among those who appreciate unhinged, adult-oriented dark comedies. For everyone else, it can feel directionless and overly complicated.

If you’re in the mood for something genuinely weird, patient enough to ride the waves of absurdity, and open to Bollywood trying something different — give it a shot on Prime Video. Just don’t expect it to make perfect sense.