Chori Chori Chupke Chupke
Synopsis
This much awaited and drenched with the stains of controversy film, only manages to be a breath of old air.
Plot
I will not write out the story of this film, as I usually do. Instead I am going to quote from ’’Planet Bollywood’’ : - (Lack of enthusiasm to spend my time writing the story, sorry )
The film opens with the meeting, falling in love, and marriage of a tycoon family ka waaris - Raj Malhotra (Salman Khan) and Priya (Rani Mukherjee). After a honeymoon in Switzerland, Priya becomes pregnant, much to the delight of Raj´s family - in particular his dadaji (Amrish Puri). Through a cricket accident, though, Priya not only looses the baby but develops a terrible infection in her uterus and ovaries requiring emergent surgical removal - which in layman terms means that she cannot bare children anymore. Raj and Priya keep this a secret from the family - and in their quest to produce a great grandson for dadaji that is Raj´s own blood, they quietly decide to find a surrogate mother to ’’procreate’’ (for lack of better terminology) with Raj and produce the necessary child. This surrogate arrives in the form of a greedy Mumbai prostitute - Madhubala (Preity Zinta). Raj, Priya and Madhu run off to live in Switzerland and do the necessary deed away from prying family eyes. Trouble soon erupts, however, when Madhubala gets a glimpse of blissful, civilized family life and longs for a similar life for herself - that, too, with Raj as her husband.
The rest is my review
Plot review:
CCCC is not an original film on any counts, although in these modern times stories such as this are not encountered frequently. CCCC is an interesting watch, although the plot is plagued with many flaws and logical errors. My main complaint was the audacity of the director to plagiarise(copy) scenes from ’’Pretty women’’ and if you compare the scenes from CCCC to Pretty women, you will see it still comes up short, despite being a recent film. CCCC is basically the fusion of two classics, ’’Pretty women’’ and ’’Dusri Dhoolan’’ with a bit of ’’Hum saath saath hai’’ added for good measure.
I thought plot was very flawed and outdated. In the case of ’’Dusri Dhoolan’’ it is more understandable why the aid of a prostitute is required, as in those times reproduction technologies in India were not widely available. In these modern times there are many reproduction technologies, something called, ’’artificial insemination’’ comes to mind. The main protagonist of the story, was a rich business tycoon and what puzzles me, why did he not seek professional medical help or why the doctors did not recommend fertility specialists.
Other major flaws, if Salman Khan was going to pay such a vast amount to the prostitute in order to impregnate her, then why was he so reluctant and hesitant to touch her! No man who has payed a prostitute so much, would ever miss out a chance like that, especially with someone who looks as good as Preity Zina. The director just used this as a ploy to movie the story along and of course he needed an excuse to go to Switzerland. Which also brings me to, why Switzerland! Why didn’t Raj Malhotra(Salman Khan) just impregnate her somewhere in India, well Ill tell you why, the director just wanted an excuse to shoot a few songs and scenes in a beautiful foreign land. Like many Indian directors who want Europe to serve as a backdrop to their films.
The story drags a lot during the first half, it gets interesting when the family come over to stay and hence the hum saath saath hai element comes into play, which is pretty heart warming.
The ending is too melodramatic and maybe too much for the viewer to digest.
All in all, the plot has very irresponsibly been drawn, there are too many logical errors and the flow of the story is very artificial and very unplausible.
Plot rating 5.5/10
Technical review:
Technically CCCC is an excellent effort and it shows too, the cinematography by Xavier is stupendous, the picturisation of the songs shot abroad are lush and looks like a painting on celluloid, there is so much colour and it literally takes your breath away. Although the cinematography does not look realistic, because of the hugely energetic and bright colours, if the world looked like that, then it would be a much more beautiful place. In these respects cinematography in films like Lagaan or Gadar are much more superior even though they are not as luscious as CCCC’s cinematography. I think seeing excellent cinematography in Bollywood films is becoming rather standard now, this is certainly one area where Bollywood is miles ahead of Hollywood, consistently beating 90% of Hollywood movies.
The editing is crisp and visuals flow in perfectly(Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the story) However in the sound effects sphere, CCCC does not have much to offer.
Technical rating 9/10
Music review:
I was not too overstruck with the music, the title track itself was at best mediocre. However as I have mentioned already the picturisation of the songs was lush and are very pleasing to the eye. Songs do not flow in naturally with the story and could be considered separable.
Music rating 7/10
Screen play review:
The screen play overall is competent , although some performers do have their fair share of flaws. Salman Khan who plays the main protagonist, seems very unnatural as the character and lacks a lot of depth, also his dialogue delivery is very mediocre(Hes been in the industry for so long, should be experienced now). Rani mukerjhi does not have much of a role, hence she does not have much of a mention in this review either :D. Preity Zinta scores high marks with her portrayal of a prostitute, she plays this role to perfection and the success of CCCC can mainly be attributed to her. Her dialogue delivery is impressive and her evolution from a rude and provocative prostitute to a sensible, caring and polite human being looks very realistic. Amrish puri and his wife(I don’t know the name of the actor) are the feel good factor of this film and their bickering and teasing family play really does warm your heart.
Screen playing rating 8/10
Summary
Plot rating 5.5/10
Technical rating 9/10
Music rating 7/10
Screen playing rating 8/10
Overall rating: 7.4/10 or 74%
Further comments:
Overall CCCC is not a bad film, its worth a watch for an excellent performance by Preity Zinta and for the family melodrama as well as for a change from the usual Bollywood stories. However if you are into dramatic or action movies or even good cinema , then avoid CCCC like the plague.
If you have not seen CCCC, then I recommend you watch ’’Pretty women’’ , ’’Dusri dhoolan’’ or ’’Hum saath saath hai’’ instead, if you have not seen them already. Then give CCCC a shot ..