Chennai Express: Movie REVIEW by Komal Nahta

UTV Motion Pictures and Red Chillies
Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.'s Chennai Express (UA) is about unlike poles
attracting. Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) is
a 40-year-old North Indian bachelor
who has been brought up by his
grandfather (Lekh Tandon) and
grandmother (Kamini Kaushal) after
the death of his parents when he was still a child. As per his late grandpa's
wishes, he sets out to immerse his
mortal remains in the river in
Rameshwaram for which he boards
the Chennai Express train. Although
he has plans to cut short his Rameshwaram trip and instead head
to Goa with two friends (…….), he
meets Meena (Deepika Padukone), a
Tamil girl, on the train and finds
himself trying to save her from her
kidnappers. The ones trying to kidnap her are her own cousins, sent by her
don-father (Sathyaraj) who literally
rules Kumban village where the
family lives. Meena has run away
from home as she does not want to
marry Thangabali (Nikitin Dheer), the man her authoritarian father has
chosen for her.

Rahul is unable to go to Goa as
planned, because he realises that
Meena is in distress and needs help.
The kidnappers take Rahul and Meena
to Kumban, where Thangabali
challenges Rahul to defeat him in a duel. Since Thangabali is very strong,
Rahul instead flees. He is brought
back to Kumban village and this time,
he escapes with Meena. The two
reach another village and pretend to
be man and wife in front of the villagers who, therefore, give them
shelter. But Meena's father is still hell-
bent on getting his daughter back so
that she can be married off to
Thangabali.

Along the way, Rahul falls in love
with Meena and the desire to save
her from Thangabali is even more
intense now. Is Rahul able to protect
Meena from the tough Thangabali and
from her father? Why does Rahul take Meena back to Kumban? Is Meena also
in love with Rahul? Is Meena forced to
marry Thangabali? Or does her father
see Rahul as her prospective husband?
Does Rahul have to fight it out with
Thangabali?

K. Subhash's story is very ordinary
and Yunus Sajawal's screenplay, with
additional inputs by Robin Bhatt,
doesn't improve matters or make the
drama any better. Rather, the
screenplay is repetitive and often meanders aimlessly, giving the
impression that incidents have been
simply pieced together. Although the
film is a comedy, the fun and frolic
often look contrived and fail to evoke
the desired amount of laughter. Yes, there are some scenes and sequences
which make the audience laugh but
the really hilarious ones are few. The
train sequence, in which Rahul gives a
helping hand to Meena first and to
some men thereafter so that they can board Chennai Express which is
pulling out of the station, is hilarious.
Equally funny is the sequence in
which Rahul and Meena pass on
messages to one another in song
form, in the train. But the train sequence, after that, becomes boring.
The drama in Kumban village looks
too stretched and contrived. The
sequence of the boat headed to Sri
Lanka, the challenge of Thangabali to
Rahul, the scenes in the other village – all these are lengthy and don't add
much to further the drama in an
interesting or captivating way. The
climax is engrossing and engaging,
arresting the audience's attention. It
has some emotional appeal also.

Perhaps, the three main drawbacks
are: firstly, Meena doesn't come
across as a damsel in distress for
whom Rahul has to stay back and
help. Secondly, the entire drama looks
too contrived rather than a smooth- flowing story. Thirdly, there is just too
much use of the Tamil language in the
dialogues, making it irritating and
boring for non-Tamil-speaking people.
Also, the numerous Tamil faces, used
as character actors and junior artistes, will make the story less identifiable
in North, East, West and Central India.
The romance fails to gladden the
heart and, therefore, the emotional
scenes do not touch the viewer's
heart. The repetitiveness of the story lets monotony set in quite early on.
Some sequences (like Rahul's
interaction with a midget) could
easily be deleted or shortened. Even
the very reliable duo of Farhad-Sajid
is not able to salvage the drama completely with its dialogues. While
the dialogues are very funny at
places, they are not consistently so.

Shah Rukh Khan plays to the gallery
and succeeds brilliantly in some
scenes (train sequences, climax) but
less effectively in others. Deepika
Padukone gets the Tamil accent right
and entertains because of her gender- incorrect dialogues. Her performance
is quite nice. Nikitin Dheer does not
have much substance in his role. His
formidable personality adds more
weight to his presence than his role
or performance. Mukesh Tiwari, as police Inspector Shamsher, acts ably.
Sathyaraj is average as Meena's
father. Kamini Kaushal and Lekh
Tandon, as Rahul's grand-parents, are
okay. Priyamani entertains in the
'One two three four' dance number. Others fit the bill.

Rohit Shetty has been able to make
neither a universally appealing laugh
riot nor a heartwarming love story.
While his handling of the drama is
quite nice, his choice of subject, his
liberal use of Tamil dialogues and his choice of South Indian faces in the
cast will restrict the film's business.
Vishal-Shekhar's music is good but
the absence of super-hit songs is felt.
All the songs, including the 'Lungi'
song composed by Honey Singh, are entertaining. The 'One two three four'
number is catchy. Amitabh
Bhattacharya's lyrics are mass-
oriented. Song picturisations (by
Chinni Prakash, Farah Khan and Raju
Sundaram) are eye-filling. Amar Mohile's background music is quite
nice. Dudley does a wonderful job of
the camerawork. His cinematography
is outstanding and the outdoor locales
are a visual treat. Narendra
Rahurikar's sets are good. Action scenes, designed by Rohit Shetty and
choreographed by Jai Singh Nijjar, are
mass-appealing and have the typical
Rohit Shetty flavour, which will be
liked by the masses. Steven Bernard's
editing needed to be sharper and crisper.

On the whole, Chennai Express will meet with a mixed response – it will
be liked by one section of the
audience but its comedy will not find
favour with another section of the
public. This will come in the way of a
long run for the film. No doubt, its business will be good because of the
release during the bountiful Eid
festival but collections, especially in
circuits like U.P., Bihar, Rajasthan and
East Punjab, will not sustain for too
long after the initial euphoria dies down. Producer Red Chillies
Entertainment has already made huge
under-production profits by pre-
selling the all-world rights to
producer-distributor UTV Motion
Pictures. As for UTV, it will also make profits as its total investment of Rs.
105 crore will easily be recovered.
Around 55% of the total investment
of UTV has already been recovered
from the sale of satellite and audio
rights and another about 20%, from the sale of distribution rights of some
circuits. The balance 25% of the
investment will easily be recovered
from theatrical business in circuits not
sold to individual distributors, like
Overseas, Bombay etc. But the individual distributors, who have paid
heavy prices for the distribution
rights of the film for the various
circuits, will not be able to make
profits. In fact, they may end up
losing part of their investment.

Chennai Express Movie Review: A Total Paisa Vasool Entertainer

Least did the 40-year-old Rahul know
that wooing the beautiful Meenamma in
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ)
style would land him up in such
jeopardy. That was possibly the biggest
mistake of his life. But, this mistake was for good, or in fact the best that
was about to happen in his life.

After ruling the hearts of the audience
for decades as Rahul, Shahrukh is back
in his trademark DDLJ romance in his
latest release Chennai Express, but this
time in Rohit Shetty 'ishtyle'. Chennai
Express is a super masala entertainment and promises a great deal of laughter as
expected from the typical Rohit Shetty
style flicks.

Story:-

It all starts when the 40-year-old
bachelor Rahul (Shahrukh Khan) boards
Chennai Express train that turns out to
be a life changing decision for him. SRK
as Rahul does a DDLJ again, when he
tries hard to woo the South beauty Meenamma Lochni (Deepika Padukone).
Fate plays a twist in such a way that
Rahul gets entrapped with Meenamma,
who is the daughter of an intimidating
south don. Both Rahul and Meenamma
try to elope, but everytime they fail to do so and end up in trouble.

Chennai Express will leave you
whistling, laughing and applauding in
the theatres. The flick is a thorough
entertainer as long as you don't search
for logic in it. Chennai Express makes an
impressive start, especially the train scene, where Shahrukh Khan meets
Deepika Padukone, is just hilarious.

Like almost all the Rohit Shetty movies,
even this one doesn't fail to offer good
dose of over the top action. Adding on
to this, the film also astonishes the mass
through its marvelous cinematography.
It gives you a rich desi village flavour, based on a South backdrop setting.

Performances:

Shahrukh Khan is splendid and
delightful. Even at 47, Khan retains his
old boyish charm onscreen. Though
there's a bit of overacting in parts by
SRK, on the whole, he's the soul of the
Chennai Express.

Deepika Padukone is a complete
stunner. Forget her breathtaking looks
as a South chick, Dippy does an
incredible act in the flick. She lets
herself loose and surrenders to her
character completely. Her performance is impressive.

Nikitin Dheer does justice to his
villainous act, while South star
Sathyaraj doesn't get much opportunity
to prove himself in the film.


Verdict:

Chennai Express is a light-hearted
entertainer, that stands strong and tall
on the shoulders of the super powerful
'Brand Shahrukh Khan'. It is colourful,
fascinating, fun-filled and yes, of course
not a mindless slapstick. And remember, you are going to watch comedy, drama,
lots of comic action and flying cars! In
one word, this one is a total paisa
vasool entertainer.

Rating: 4/5