Since this movie was mercilessly degraded by MSians, I was curious to know as to WHY this movie was generally panned by the masses. Let me tell you, Chalte Chalte could have been a MUCH better movie to start with but it’s not completely without charm. I saw this w/ my BF and although he hated it (I suspect most men do), we both easily recognized the patterns of codependent , self destructive behavior prevalent in relationships based purely on ego. For instance, our hero Raj (Shahrukh Khan) is your typical narrow minded type of male that had a hard time dealing with Rani’s ex-BF. He also had an inferiority complex so he freely blamed other people for his misery. On the other hand, his business went belly up so his ego was crushed & thought he could no longer provide for his wife, Priya (Rani Mukherji).
Priya is what I would call an Alpha type personality. She is assertive, intelligent, and opinionated. Coming from an upper class background, she gave & borrowed willingly from friends & family. Her outlook was modern so she saw no fault in borrowing money from her ex-BF. Now this is where the philosophical discussion begins. Exactly who is at fault here? My BF says that Raj is justified in his behavior because ’’borrowing money from a man, let alone your EX, is equal to prostitution.’’ Excuse me? I retort to explain that it’s not even related & insulting to even insinuate the possibility. Then it becomes this whole petty argument of He says, She says. I think this movie succeeds in at least portraying just how petty arguments can get & how lack of communication can wreak havoc in a once idyllic relationship.
Where it fails : The first 25 minutes in the bowling alley with those annoying friends of Raj were completely unnecessary to the plot. The stupid sobbing of that woman & her lame references to the tired Love Story Erich Segal BS was just too cliche & half baked. Ditto the excruciatingly bad airport scene towards the end. I say cut 2 hours of tripe from this movie & then maybe it can be FRESH. Otherwise, it is very tired even with Farah Khan’s unimpressive choreography and Jatin Lalit’s forgettable songs makes one feel painfully bored. I just wish the whole cast would just hurry up & get the damn point across. If they had trimmed this movie into an hour, then we wouldn’t have to be subjected to the slow jammin’ root canal version of Hindi pop fizz. I’m giving it three stars for effort but I don’t recommend it because it’s just too damn long with so many unnecessary people and extended, overstated scenes that are irrelevant to the subject matter.