Yesterday, 9.30 pm, Metro Theatre, one of the oldest movie halls in Mumbai, now a heritage building, jam packed crowd outside the theatre, the elite, the teens, clinging couples, beggars, uncontrolled traffic, glaring vehicle lights, non-stop HONKS, and me waiting for my company, without even tickets in hand for the 9.30, current show.
Thinking in retrospect, I don’t know why I was so enthusiastic to watch this flick, may be Sharukh, may be Rani, may be both, or the song I fell in love at first hearing “ Tauba tumhare yeh ishare”……
Anyway, we got the tickets in black, 150 each for an upper stall, thankfully there weren’t one each, at one corner of the hall ( Rangeela Ishtyle), since I missed first 10 minutes or so (no regrets for that), I wouldn’t be able to comment on the beginning !!
* STORYLINE
The story begins with the customary BOY meets GAL style, they have tried to make it sort of “DIFFERENT” in the sense that Boy (Raj-Shahrukh) is driving a truck and Gal (Priya-Rani) is driving an Ascent, and they are both driving from Mahabaleshwar (that’s why their dialogues were so HONEY coated ), and there is a coalition between the cars and also by words, ultimately they get pally and the truck tows the car to its destination.
As fate would have it, and as happens ONLY in Bollywood movies – Raj and Priya meet the wedding reception of a friend, where they exchange few more words…
Romance blossoms in the in the truck – as Raj gives a lift to Priya, back to Mahabaleshwar. I forgot to mention earlier that Priya is a TOP CLASS Fashion designer (of international fame ofcourse)…
The next 20 days Raj spends in tracing Priya in Mumbai after he dropped her at Mahabaleshwar ( Sorry if I sound confused-not entirely my fault) ….and Lo….again in true Bollywood Style, he spots her on one of the roads, while singing atop lamp-posts, Cars, (Trucks??), creating massive traffic jams on Mumbai streets !
He expresses his love for her and she shocks him by saying that she is getting engaged in Greece the very next day and has to leave by the next flight….Greece, no less ! He plays the jilted lover, hopes crushed he packs his bags for Ghatkopar…sorry Greece, and lands in the same flight as her (speaks a lot for our Visa issuing authorities- Hassle-free One Hour Visa Service ).
Greece, lots of white buildings, lovely sea-shore et all, and Raj somehow wins Priya’s heart..after all he had taken her around as a perfect guide in Mykanos where the flight got delayed by some 10 hours, bought her a BUGLY (beautiful+ugly) doggie, took a life threatening jump inside a Wishing well, to get her coin out, drove her all the way down to Greece in a snazzy car when they knew that the flight was indefinitely delayed, that too in record time, for her engagement. After all the HOT (argument) scenes behind French windows (yeah, so what if this is Greece), father agrees to get them married, and this is called a FAST PACED story….
After marriage the usual RICH GAL marrying POOR BOY, adjustment problems, Class problems, arguments, the works run for a few reels. Problems in Raj’s business, Priya’s borrowing money from RICHIE RICH ex-to-be-fiancee, nearly separates the couple. Priya shifts out of their home, and Raj creates many misunderstanding as toppings.
Priya decides on Divorce, and on going back to Greece (Fleece to Greece would have been a better title ), Raj grovels and begs pardon at the airport, all in vain.
But not entirely so, as she comes back home quietly behind him as a Khota sikka and thereby ending the movie saying…..They lived happily ever after……
MUSIC
Jatin Lalit and Aadesh Srivastava Lyrics- Javed Akhtar
Out of the 8 tracks, Tauba tumhare is very crisp, extremely hummable, shot well. Suno na suno na, Chalte Chalte and the folk style song Layi Vi na Gayee were regularly good numbers and the others can be conveniently forgotten.
The tracks did not seem to be woven into the story line, but felt to be forcibly inserted as is the case with most Bollywood movies.
* PERSONAL OPINION
Chalte Chalte with a solid star cast and a good Director, quite failed to live upto my high expectations. The story line was not at all robust ( too many flights ), dialogues lacked intensity, editing wilted miserably. Sharukh and Rani managed to look good throughout, with their usual fine screen presence, though Rani looked over-made-up at times. Johnny Lever and Satish Shah’s talents were very much underutilized. This must have been Johnny’s worst comical performance (for which he cannot be blamed at all). The rest of the nukkad characters were like loose pillars, nothing to bind them into the storyline.
Even a talented actress like Lilette Dubey was wasted in the role of the Masi whose only part was to keep patting Rani’s head !!
Manish Malhotra defines consistency by designing a wonderful wardrobe for the Actors!
The cinematography was good, but they could have shown more varied locales in Greece instead of focusing on the regular one or two sceneries.
* TO SUM IT ALL…
Chalte-Chalte, sadly but easily worth a miss, but I know it will be hard to resist the temptation of checking out how real star actors and a sensible director can goof up, just for want of a decent storyline and dialogues.
Awaiting your comments !
