Chhichhore movie review rating: Two and half stars out of five
This has been a month of ‘inspirations’ at the movies, and Nitesh ‘Dangal’ Tiwari’s Chhichhore has a long 3 Idiots shadow looming over with its themes of student suicides, why life is more than just success & failure and a how a real loser is one who doesn’t fight for oneself. Also featuring 50 shades of Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar and Taare Zameen Par.
The scenes just don’t add up as compellingly, lacking the clear, entertaining communication that makes 3 Idiots a much-loved repeat watch. The flashback boys hostel comedy scenes induce many great laughs, everything else is overdone and unconvincing.
An out an out irreverent college comedy without any social messages could have made a wild mad ride of Chhichhore but that is not to be. The temptation to make every Hindi movie out there socially relevant seems too much to ignore nowadays.
College in Hindi movies
We barely see the classroom in most Hindi movie college scenes. In some ninety’s movies, there are scenes of ragging, scenes where the heroine is literally tortured by the hero in a mandatory song – After which you know that they will fall in love with each other ultimately.
So much college songs in Hindi movies feature extras and the leads dancing with abandon to lip-syncing songs and synchronized choreography, with the college authorities nowhere in sight. Hindi movie makers are yet to make a damn good college movie, Chhichhore is hilariously funny though in the college flashback parts.
That familiar feeling
There is an engineering college, recently joined by Annirudh (Sushant Singh Rajput). He is like any other college student, not like the curious, rebellious Ranchodhdas Chanchad.
Instead of an overpowering ‘Virus’ dean we have a rich, rowdy student Raggie (Prateik Babbar) as the typical Hindi film college villain (50 shades of Deepak Tijori?), a ‘loser’ boys hostel block (the much-repeated replaced term for ‘idiots’), a Kareena-like love interest Maya (Shraddha Kapoor), an inter-hostel sports competition and a surprising anti-climax that doesn’t get through.
Porn-crazy ‘Sexa’ (Varun Sharma), angry cigarette-addict Derek (Tahir Raj Basin), Acid (Naveen Polishetty) and Bevda (Saharsh Kumar Shukla) are characters mostly played for laughs, so they don’t get through as endearingly as Farhan and Raju.
The present-day student suicide track is contrived, and the bad middle-age make up and hairdos doesn’t help the dull reunion track.
The anti-climax
“Failure is just a part of life and needs to be accepted as willingly as success,” is an admirable message to get across but the movie makers don’t make the point well enough. They resort to applause and respect from the victors to put the point across. They totally miss the potential epilogue that the lead characters get rid of their addictions and find themselves in the process.
This is way, way off the mark and brings down the entire premise of Chhichhore crashing down. By the end credits, there is no feeling of happy culmination or of a fun journey, just a dull numbness.
Spirited performances
The performances are bright though, held down by one-track writing and caricaturing. Sushant Singh Rajput is good as the youthful, exuberant college boy, as is Shraddha Kapoor as Maya. Varun Sharma rules the comic scenes with the usual crybaby act, while the talented Naveen Polishetty doesn’t get any layers, there is no backstory for his foul-mouthed part. Tushar Pandey as the helpless Sundar/Mummy stands out.
Chhichhore review
Many male school students were part of the screening we went to, and they enjoyed the movie’s ‘strictly boys’ humour’ all through. That’s exactly how the movie registers.
Chhichhore doesn’t rise above been a damn funny boys hostel comedy, making it a decent watch at the cinemas.
Chhichhore doesn’t rise above been a damn funny boys hostel comedy, making it a decent watch at the cinemas.
