Movie Review: Chalo Dilli….jaana zaroori nahi hai

Its okay..

That’s distinctly the feeling you have,once you emerge from the cinema hall after watching Chalo Dilli. The trouble with this movie is that it tries too hard. Time and again there are some great opportunities to make the audience laugh but the over-attempt results in over-kill

Blame it on the script…blame it on the cast..blame it on whatever. But Chalo Dilli doesn’t do enough to make you want to undertake this journey more than once.

One look at Vinay Pathak in the first few scenes and you rejoiced that Bharat Bhushan (Bheja Fry) was back for another round. But in his new avatar, Pathak manages only a few laughs. As for Lara Dutta – the story has been told time and again – she looks ravishing but acts..well, she can’t act…let’s just leave it at that.

And that, is a critical aspect especially since she’s supposed to be the leading lady in this comic flick

One thing to appreciate though, is the rather insightful act you get to watch, most of the characters and their actions can be related to somebody you might know, or at least have observed. However, whenever you see potential for some interesting situations to develop, the movie shifts to a different track, leaving you wondering what was the point of showing those scenes in the first place..

The issue with the second half and especially the end is that it gets too preachy and has too much in-your-face messaging. Would rather have appreciated a more subtle message where the audience also had some food for thought

As for the songs – thankfully, I counted only 3. It is appalling to note this new unfavorable trend of lifting old classical hits and making sad, or rather pathetic ‘new’ music out of it. The song ‘Laila main Laila’ falls under the same category. The only relief is that it is nowhere close to the sorry excuse for a song that was made in DMD. (am talking about Mit Jaaye Gham…kaash yeh gaana hi mit jaata…)

All in all, its a fairly timepass watch…and if you have nothing better to pass the time this weekend, you may venture a watch