Cheeni Kum - still a bit over-spiced

Last Sunday, A and I finally got to watch Cheeni Kum. Our average hit rate with movies has taken a drastic plunge since we decided: a. to have 2 kids; b. to spend their waking hours with them on weekends; and c. that we were too old for night shows any more. We waited weeks for the DVD/ VCD to release and promptly invested in the same.

Having heard lots of good reviews and having worked with Balki, the writer-director, in our previous avatars in Lintas, we were anticipating a fun, hip, urban-slick movie. CK does not disappoint for the most part, but there are bits that are quite out-of-whack with the basic premise. Balki was famous for saying, "Say only one thing in any ad" as CD, so we were surprised to find so many parallel tracks in the movie.

The whole backstage at the restaurant with the numerous jokes about the buck-toothed waiter were repetitive and started to pall after a bit. The interminable last scene with Paresh Rawal was the stuff of high-melodrama, compared to the rest of the movie and quite incoherent. Plus it really strained our credulity to spot Zohra Sehgal sitting in a cab in front of the house and being able to hear every word of the rant. I didn't even spot hearing aids on her!

What really pained ( and I mean literally) us was the child with leukemia. First of all, the character was totally unnecessary - what did she add to the film that couldn't have been taken away with a dramatic improvement in the story? Second, her manner and conversation made me want to smack her, leukemia or not. Any kid who addresses someone that much older than her as tu and speaks in that familiar a manner deserves some serious disciplining. Not to mention her references to the relationship in a romantic light. There was absolutely nothing endearing about that child and she really brought the mood down.

The romance between AB and Tabu was lovely and quite believable, and the lightness of the interplay was refreshing. It was still a bit of a stretch when he suddenly popped the question, but that was forgivable - it is a Hindi film, after all! Sadly, while the dialogues were funny, there was no chemistry between Zohra and AB!

Overall, a rating of 3 ( and please fast forward all the sequences with swiny). High marks for effort but could do with improvement in final delivery!

Comments

Anonymous said…
How old is this character who you were expecting to see her hearing aids - and anyway, how do you know they were only very small?
August 21, 2007 at 5:15 AM
bird's eye view said…
The character is over 90 ( she has a 64 year old son) and is sitting outside the gate of a house, in a cab, while her son is on the first floor of the house ( and not screaming at his f-i-l to be). And there were close-ups so you could have seen the hearing aids :)
August 28, 2007 at 12:22 AM
Anonymous said…
Oh come on, I thought the kid with leukaemina was not only refreshing as filmi 'bachchas' go but also believable and convincing - remember she was a motherless little thing being brought up by a single parent (her Dad) and very likely spent hours in front of the TV while Dad was at work with no parental guidance . Her closeness and unconventional and informal interaction with the elderly neighbour (AB) was for the same reason quite in keeping with the 'history' of the character. None of that cloying 'uncleji' 'auntyji' for little 'sexy'.
September 10, 2007 at 2:01 AM
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