On the face of it, Abbas-Mustan’s Chori Chori Chupke Chupke has the looks of routine love triangle, the kind that seems to have become de rigueur for Bollywood director. But that’s only the surface.
That’s not to say that C4… is a flawless film - far from it, it does have its share of drawbacks - but it certainly is a product that is daringly different, a mainstream entry that tackles the rarely attempted theme of surrogate motherhood without botching it up by falling prey to the temptation to sensationalise the issue.
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.
Despite its rather quirky premise, the narrative has a nice, relaxed, languid air about it for it hinges on real emotions, not spurious sentiments. The first half of the enterprise covers all aspects that contribute to the making of a Bollywood film– the meeting, the affair, the marriage, the tiffs… In fact, the roller coaster ride in the first half is flawless in terms of writing, execution and interpretation.
There’re moments that bring immense joy to the viewer, like the one during the wedding reception .There are many memorable and impactful portions of the film, a primary example being Rani’s heart wrenching miscarriage
Likewise, the emotional moments are hard to forget. Sequences like the one when Rani stays in Church in Switzerland, when Salman talks to Preity about the moments they’ve shared, or Familys entry into Salman farm house in switzerland’s have been handled with elan .
The songs appear too frequently and are in portions quite misplaced and in some sense loose complete impact, both on the tunes and the film.Anu Malik has done a good job with the score but the connection with the music and the film is lacking .My personal fav is ’Dewaana Hain Yeh Man’.
Abbas-Mustan who deviated from their run of the mill thriller have extracted outstanding performances from the principal cast, they have also struck the right balance between light and emotional moments of the film – the two sides of the coin. It is thanks to their mature handling that the film neither becomes downmarket affair, nor a complete tearjerker.
C4 belongs to Salman-the actor , Salman-the superstar!Even with this ordinary role, he has given it his complete soul .One actually runs out of adjectives and personifications if asked to describe this performance by the actor .
Preity takes a step forward with this film . She slips into the character with amazing ease, proving that she’s a reservoir of talent.
Rani is not far away either though her characterization is feeble. From a married woman’s life to choosing surrogate mother over other life decisions, Rani is one strong woman!
Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, is surely worth a moment in your time.