Some of you might think that I am using mouthshut as a sounding board to vent off my frustrations after watching this movie rather than review it but believe me, I deserve some leeway here. ’Chalte Chalte’ may compare favorably to say, ’’Chura Liya Hai Tumne’’ (a movie to be avoided at all costs) but in the latter case I at least knew what I was in for. My reasons for giving CC a single star rating are partially motivated by the fact that watching this movie completely spoiled a perfectly good evening for me after totally pulverizing my high expectations (maybe I should blame Taran Adarsh and co. for this). We cannot otherwise afford to be this stringent while rating Hindi movies. This review/ diatribe is abound with spoilers but again, there is nothing in this movie that isn’t rotten to the core. If you want to see Greece, you can watch it on some travel channel; if you want to see Rani, you had rather watch her in Saathiya and if you want to watch Shahrukh, you do not deserve any of my sympathies!!
The boy-meets-girl story has been exploited to such an extent in Hindi films that all such future scripts coming from the not-so-big recycle bin of Hindi films deserve to be shredded or burnt so that they do not see the light of the day. Raj Mathur, owner of a fleet of trucks (haw haw!!) meets Priya, a budding fashion designer from Greece and falls in love with her at first sight in a terribly irritating and contrived sequence (reaffirming my belief that there is no such thing as love at first sight).
Enter DDLJ, KKHH ….. After Raj follows her all over the globe and eats her head off in a pathetic attempt to woo her; an attempt to which, unsurprisingly considering that Hindi film heroines are usually brain-dead, she succumbs, in the process jilting her would be beau played by Jas Arora who has sacrificial lamb written all over him. The match is sanctioned by a surprisingly benign father (benign considering the size of his moustache) and not sanctioned by an ultra-interfering aunt (Lilette Dubey) who seems to be nursing some secret grouse against SRK (I don’t blame her). They get married and settle down to a life of not-so-blissful matrimony.
Enter Saathiya, Abhiman, Aap Ki Kasam…… This is supposedly the “hatke” part of the movie where the director (yeah, yeah) explores the roots and the pains of marital discord. But a couple who keep fighting over shoes and towels deserve to be shot rather than sympathized. But then they have the entire Nukkad cast, Jhonny Lever (the depths he sinks to have to be seen to be believed) , a group of the most irritating friends I have ever come across with a constantly sobbing, fat female who actually finds Raj’s and Priya’s story too good to be true (well, what do you know dear) being the pick of the lot, Gujju spouting Satish Shah and omigosh, oomph queen Jayashree T. (who has since transformed into Jayashree Three as a friend of mine pointed out) as his wife to constantly sympathize and support (read interfere) them. Priya drives the final nail in the coffin when she borrows money from Jas to support her husband’s flagging business and punctures his already fragile ego(when will this girl ever learn).
Enter Devdas, Hum Tumhare Hai Sanam, Baazigar, Darr, Anjaam….. SRK reliably slips into his Rudravatar and gets drunk (and unintentionally hilarious) and starts smashing anything made of glass (he seems to have some kind of aversion to glass. Remember the countless aquariums he has smashed?) A frustrated Rani decides to leave him forever, and go back to Athens.
Enter Dil, Aashiqui….. This is when the SRK groupies decide to intervene (God bless them) and inform SRK (reliably at the very last minute) about her departure and the Khan makes a beeline for the airport and once again manages to persuade her to come back after some terribly clichéd dialogue-baazi. All’s well that ends well. Amen.
Well, not for me! I had a terrible headache after watching the movie……
Direction, Story and Screenplay
The Aziz Mirza of yore, where art thou? You seem be on a downward slide (with a very steep tangent) after your excellent “Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman”, the solid “Yes Boss” and the bad “Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani”. There is no hint of any direction, any story or screenplay (along with Robin Bhatt. Believe it or not, it took two people’s combined effort to create this mess!). Some glaring bloopers:
•Priya is supposed to be from Greece. But she has no trace of an accent, seems to be forever in Mumbai and does not know Greek (at the airport when she tries to go back to Athens). Further, she tells the guy at the wishing pond she is from India. Do you mind making up your mind, Priya?
•Priya is also supposed to be a very successful fashion designer. But other than that first show, she does not seem to have any interest in pursuing her profession. She keeps harping about some Australian company throughout the movie and seems to tamely slip into the role of a meek housewife chatting with the postman and bhajiwala and arguing about shoes and towels. Now wouldn’t that have been a better reason for marital discord?
•Priya wants to go back to Athens for her engagement. Yet, it takes Raj to point it out to her that she can take a rental car and drive to Athens. Further, what does he rent in spite of the bad weather which has canceled all flights? A convertible Mercedes (and that’s a middle class guy for you). Well, the Gods are certainly smiling upon this couple.
•Raj decided to follow Priya to Athens and manages to get a visa in an hour and he does not have to go for it himself!
•Benign dad appears for the wedding for which, btw, he consents in two minutes, disappears and finally reappears to take her back home. Hello, reality check?
Dialogues
Too average to be commented upon.
Music
Typical Jatin-Lalit-Aziz-Mirza brand of music. Nothing much to write home about there. I did like the title song (though it kinda resembled “Ek Din Aap Yun” from Yes Boss) and loved Adesh Srivastava’s “Layi Vi Na Gayee” sung by the brilliant Sukhvinder Singh.
Performances
I hate to admit this, but Shahrukh Khan makes a sincere attempt to cut down on his mannerisms and make the best of his limited repertoire of acting skills. But sincere does not necessarily translate to good and he ends up dominating more frames in the movie than he should be. Rani Mukherjee, though she overdoes her sweet, smiley girl act in the first half (cut down on the smiling Rani. We know you have a good one.), redeems herself by a controlled performance in the second half and looks drop-dead gorgeous. This is one actress who continues to rise in my estimation post Madhuri and Kajol. The rest of the supporting cast is too grating to be rated.
When Priya gives her reasons for wanting to terminate their marriage, I thought, okay, here is one piece of truth in this movie full of jarring notes. Their worlds are different and the twain shall never meet. If she had gone back to Greece and followed her human instincts and emotions, my reaction to this movie would have been perhaps less harsh. But, predictably, she chooses to come back into this lousy marriage and leaves us with a bitter taste of having watched a really lousy movie.
-Vishal.