I went in
with dreadful thoughts of having to rush out midway or toss and turn in my
chair till the excruciating end, but strangely Chennai Express left me surprised
and fairly entertained.
Unlike Rohit Shetty’s Golmal (the first in the series), which was a rollicking comedy, CE is not ROFL (as somebody described it). But it has its moments, when you do laugh out loud but briefly. Mostly, it has chuckle and smile moments, which is more than you can say for other so-called comedies.
I think
I have a fair inkling why CE has managed to rake in crores by the truckloads. It
has a feel-good feel to it (despite the flying-car stunts and axe-wielding goons)
and highlights, perhaps after a long time, the glories of family. Its crux is
relationships – between a man and his grandfather, between a man and woman
(husband-wife), between a father and daughter, and between brothers and sisters.
Shah
Rukh Khan, who I feared would ham his way through, actually takes pains to keep
it simple, and it works. He (or the script) relentlessly takes digs at all his
successful films and the popular characters he has played. He even makes fun of
his advancing age (and perhaps the related insecurity regarding continued
success) and manages to charm as he always has. Of course, I wish I could turn
the clock back to the SRK of Doosra Kewal or Circus or Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman.
But this SRK is entertaining too (so much better than Ra.One’s).
Deepika,
I was scared, would get the accent all wrong or overdo it in trying to get it right.
She surprisingly does neither. The accent, though not very natural, is fairly
compelling and being a south Indian (Kannadiga), she does speak her own Tamil. And
unlike most of her films, Deepika shows not a shred of skin and still looks persuasively
traditionally sexy (That was a mouthful, I agree). And she is good at comedy,
too. She is certainly going places.
The
music is a let-down. There is not one song that you take home with you, except
perhaps the item song ‘1, 2, 3, 4’, which makes a mark if only for its rambunctiousness.
If only the soundtrack had been memorable enough?
I don’t
think the story deserves a mention because it is clearly not the point of the
film. CE’s plot is only a device to put the varied characters in place and let
them play out their roles. It doesn’t matter who fights who, who sings what,
who does what; the only thing that matters is whether the man gets his woman in
true hero-style. Rahul, the dilwala, does get his dulhaniya, only this time she’s
Meenamma from the far south.
In the
process, Rohit Shetty has managed to perhaps make the first language-crossover
film of Bollywood. A Hindi film that liberally uses Tamil (not fake and without
subtitles, and often without any Hindi interpretation by the characters). That’s
actually a very brave thing to do in a land where despite the glut of languages
and dialects, people are often very parochial and make fun of another’s tongue.
But, all
is well that ends well and earns even better (Rs 202.67 crore at the end of 14
days).
I say,
go and watch it – not for pure cinema, not even for pure entertainment, but only
for good time-pass. Chennai Express scores a 7.5 on 10.
