Years back, MTV and Channel V was the only thing on TV that my generation felt they connected with, the music of the west was super cool, rebellious, the videos were miles from the 'stylebhai's' and 'gurdass maan' videos we had seen till then.... they were better shot and most importantly had some gorgeous women, but looking back my fav show was a show aptly titled 'Masala Mix' where the makers played a video of an English song and mixed it with the audio of a Hindi song - see here, The idea of Bon Jovi & Co. moving to the tunes of Kishore kumars "Ek Haseena Thi" was funny as hell and somehow in a weird way made them more relate-able,
Rohit shetty plays safe and sticks to his guns, the gags, movie spoofs (the DDLJ spoof being my fav) and the action set peices all of them have a typically Rohit Shetty stamp in it.... Second half is much stronger, where humour gives way to some poignant moments. The writers and director deserve praise for seeping it effortlessly in the narrative and hence doesn't look out of place at all. The climax is half baked and not up to the mark,it is amateurish and force you to cringe at its silliness but its all earnest... and that is the most endearing quality of this film.
SRK is not fully utilized, one feels that the role doesn't do justice to his vast talent... however he plays the fish out of water character almost perfectly... the scenes in which he is nodding to what deepika is saying without understanding a word is priceless... the scene in which he is carrying deepika in his arms for 300 steps one of the rare subtle scenes of the film, the climax scene where he tries his hand in tamil... badly done, but again earnest!!
Deepika is refreshing as the free spirited, sleep-talking, likable girl from komban gaon, Although her ‘main yeh karti’, ‘tum hamare saath chalti’ doesn’t always sound convincing, her performance is quite lovable, she stands her own and in some places even steals the show right under SRK's nose, specially in the dream sequence when she turns into a witch...she just keeps getting better and better!! wish her well... the industry needs some good comic heroines, can't think of anyone after juhi chawla!!!
It is true that Chennai Express is not a memorable flick, it will not be remembered 10 years down the line... hell maybe not even 3 years down the line, it is not an important film, neither is it intelligent, nor subtle... but what Chennai Express is that it is a film that will keep you honestly entertained and amused!, yes... the movie tries hard, sometimes really hard to make you laugh and cry, so much so that your want to reach across the screen and tell SRK that listen... dude, don't try so hard... its ok!!We Indians love to mix things up, Be it our food, (the mouthwatering Chinese Bhel, ), or our language (our very own fusion of Hindi and English called Hinglish) , or sports (Cricket with Entertainment - IPL), or last but not the least our movies,- our lifeline... humari movies mein Action hai, Emotion hai, Romance hai, Dialogues hai, Naach-Gaana hai... basically humari movies mein sab kutch hona chahiyee... in perfect quantities, too much of sameness, too much of indulgence, to much of blandness.... WE DON'T LIKE... "bhai, zindagi ka mazza toh khaate mein hi hai" ... No matter how much we say we have evolved to 'intelligent and meaningful cinema' there is still a small part of us that loves to clap and whistle when are hero thrashes 100 villans, No matter how desperately we want to be part of the new wave,'... the ship of thesis, the gangs of wasseypur.... we can't help but sing and move to the beats of 'Dard-e-Disco' when it plays on TV, There is still a small part in all of us that adore the all encompassing, old school cinema.. the melodramatic, the over the top escapist cinema... we are all filmy, we are like this only! So when the first trailer of 'Chennai Express' released, we all knew god damn well what should we expect.... Yet... when it released we all flocked to our nearest theaters to watch it, only to come back and thrash it, by calling it foolish, silly, over the top... well, guys it is 'supposed to be just that', i mean if you went in to watch a Rohit Shetty "Chennai Express' expecting Cinematic Brilliance... then, you are the one to be blamed not the movie.. and if you didn't like it because, it was 40% in tamil, well you never saw us south indians complain when almost all other movies are 80% in punjabi... so chill out!!
Rohit shetty plays safe and sticks to his guns, the gags, movie spoofs (the DDLJ spoof being my fav) and the action set peices all of them have a typically Rohit Shetty stamp in it.... Second half is much stronger, where humour gives way to some poignant moments. The writers and director deserve praise for seeping it effortlessly in the narrative and hence doesn't look out of place at all. The climax is half baked and not up to the mark,it is amateurish and force you to cringe at its silliness but its all earnest... and that is the most endearing quality of this film. SRK is not fully utilized, one feels that the role doesn't do justice to his vast talent... however he plays the fish out of water character almost perfectly... the scenes in which he is nodding to what deepika is saying without understanding a word is priceless... the scene in which he is carrying deepika in his arms for 300 steps one of the rare subtle scenes of the film, the climax scene where he tries his hand in tamil... badly done, but again earnest!!
Deepika is refreshing as the free spirited, sleep-talking, likable girl from komban gaon, Although her ‘main yeh karti’, ‘tum hamare saath chalti’ doesn’t always sound convincing, her performance is quite lovable, she stands her own and in some places even steals the show right under SRK's nose, specially in the dream sequence when she turns into a witch...she just keeps getting better and better!! wish her well... the industry needs some good comic heroines, can't think of anyone after juhi chawla!!!
Music goes well with the mood of the film, but I missed the title song sung by S P Balasubramaniam...they should have kept that song in the film. Finally a mention to Cinematographer Dudley! I never knew that Chennai was so beautiful... Few shots take took my breath away! scenes shot near the waterfall and Rameswaram were breathtaking to say the least!!
On the whole, Chennai Express is like the MASALA MIXED, CHINESE BHEL!!! issme sab kutch hai, Action, darma, emotion, comedy...... its the kind of movie that is made for that small part inside you that is still filmy.
Go with your family, with an open heart....without bais.... and i promise you will have a good time!!
Its Guilty Pleasure!!
