Genre : Comedy / Drama
Year : 2011
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : Shashant Shah
Cast : Lara Dutta, Vinay Pathak, Akshay Kumar, Gaurav Gera, Rahul Singh
Kid rating : PG 13
CHALO DILLI (CD) : WASTED JOURNEY !
Chalo Dilli is made by Bheegi Basanti productions, which is owned by Lara Dutta and husband tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi. Bheegi Basanti’s first production is CD starring Lara Dutta herself and Vinay Pathak. Yes, there is no hero, so to speak since I really cannot perceive Vinay Pathak as a typical Hindi film hero’s role. And you would think that Lara Dutta’s first venture into Hindi film production would be Total Time Pass cinema, wouldn’t you ? Well, you’d be wrong. Miss Dutta (or was it Bhupathi who weighed in ?) takes the high road instead; CD is about finding the true meaning of life i.e.; valuing family/relationships over money .
CD does this via a journey. So, we have very up and swanky finance company CEO Mihika Banerjee (Dutta) flying to Delhi, when, due to airport problems, her flight is taken to Jaipur instead. Trying to get from Jaipur to Delhi, where her husband awaits, is getting to be quite the task, since the rental car (and driver) Mihika rents are un-cooperative. Well, then appears the savior – Delhi-based businessman Manu Gupta (Pathak) in all his middle-class glory. Gupta hops into the rental car aiming to rein in the recalcitrant car driver, but ends up driving the car instead when the driver falls asleep at the wheel. Anyway, long story short – they get lost AND they have car trouble.
Mihika is now at her wit’s end. Stranded in the Rajasthan desert with an un-driveable car, a dead phone and a sleeping driver, and very much out of her comfort zone, she has no choice but to trust buffoonish Manu Gupta and hitch a ride to the closest dhaba, hoping that the mechanic they have called for will fix the car and she can be on her way. However, life never was quite that simple . . .
Now, story-wise CD is one of those droll films which you think will make you smile with it’s in-built humor and home-grown wisdom. A little philosophical, a little preachy, but still palatable, you’re thinking. CD could have been that film, but for the fact that it is boring and drags it’s feet without offering up anything very interesting. I blame the lackadaisical screenplay, story and the poor character development.
Post-intermission the film meanders into situations that could have been interesting had they been tied back adequately to the main storyline. There is the Red Tomato hotel with it’s funny-looking manager (Gaurav Gera), and the coterie of goons led by Gujjar Singh (Rahul Singh) who run around chasing rivals – all which showed promise. Unfortunately it all came to naught.
Lara has enough star power to carry a film on her own, provided that the role is well-etched and acted. It is not news any longer that Ms. Dutta lacks dramatic abilities. In this film all that I get from her in the name of emoting are snooty airs (and I’m not talking about her up-tilted nose) and expressions of horror at truly seeing poor India and it’s people. Lara’s character in the film, Mihika is supposedly the CEO of a financial firm with 600+ direct reports. She is then extremely rich and powerful, which accounts for the snooty airs wealth has given her, but not the helplessness which Mihika displays on having to communicate with Hindi-speaking rustic folk. Mihika displays none of the resourcefulness which her shrewd businesswoman status should have ensured, and looks instead to Manu Gupta to sort out her problems.
The film then rests solely on Vinay Pathak’s shoulders, and he carries it as bravely as he can. The film is believable and even remotely likeable because of Vinay Pathak. He is truly a Dilli-wala, down to the accent and the demeanor. Manu Gupta gets a bit too holier-than-thou towards the end, and it is because of Vinay’s acting that I’m not as turned off from the clichéd character development as I should have been.
The film which is “inspired” from the hit “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” trundles along to an unsatisfying, predictable ending. While Mihika might have learnt her lesson and enjoyed the journey, I‘ve got to say I didn’t.
Keep away from this one.
Kidwise : Fairly clean, except for one raunchy item-number.
