Before reading on, I invite you to read my expectations post
on to perhaps compare where I was spot on, or purely wrong.
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| taken from indiaeduhub.in |
As predicted, the story of a Mumbai man taking an unexpectedly
long journey on a train was never going to be the focal point. It acted as a
stimulus for the manic chemistry between SRK-Deepika, the absurd portrayal of
Southern India and the stimulating action scenes. Some scenes effortlessly
bought the house down and these took part mostly in the first half of the film.
The entire sequence on the Chennai Express train was joyous; SRK putting his
hand out DDLJ-style to welcome on crazy looking gangsters; the singing-in-speech
between SRK-Deepika and the shoe-feigning are just a few examples. The madness continued
strongly during the scenes at Deepika’s village, run by her intimidating father.
I’d like to mention how beautifully the locations have been shot. I'm not sure
how I’d feel if it was my village, my people and my language that was being so
heavily mocked. However, I’d be happy at how beautiful my village has been made
to look. I especially enjoyed the character of the Singh police officer, who
bought some conventional relief alongside SRK. The movie lost its consistency
in the second half as the focus shifted on understandably developing the love
story between the central characters. That being said, some of this development
seemed unnecessary. Shetty’s placement of two contrasting songs back-to-back is
an example. Furthermore, SRK shouldn't be mocking iconic lines from his own
movies and I understand that this is going to be an unpopular opinion but other
than the aforementioned DDLJ sequence, none of the other dialogues were
necessary. I can’t help but think of it as a desperate measure.
I thought SRK would struggle, I honestly did. To collaborate
with a director who conventionally works with natural comedians such as Ajay
Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan and the Golmaal team, I thought SRK would be found
either trying too hard or simply not funny enough. I was wrong. SRK delivers
one of his funniest ever performances as Rahul the ‘Halwaii’ and at times, brings
the house down single-handedly. He excels in the action scenes and is a natural
during the romantic ones. As some random fan tweeted, Chennai Express proves
that we are all still suckers for the tearful, cheesy and loving SRK. We feel
hurt when he’s getting beaten up and feel satisfied when he’s achieved. However,
the star of the show was surprisingly not the King Khan for me. It was the up
and coming superstar that is, Deepika Padukone. The fact that a fairly new
actress - sharing screen with one of the most iconic figures in Bollywood - can
steal a show the way she has is testament to her undoubted growth and abilities
as an actress. Deepika nails her language proficiencies, her scenes alongside
SRK and delivers a great level of emotion when required. These two look
brilliant together and I can’t wait to see them work again. Satyagraha doesn't get enough scope but both him and Nikitin Dheer look intimidating and right for
the part.
The music of the movie could have been better placed, but
One Two Three Four and Titli did well in keeping us in our seats. Chennai
Express is truly a great entertainer and is the funniest movie of the year so
far. The cast have done brilliantly, the locations look beautiful and the director’s
work is visible throughout. Don’t take the movie seriously and once you've found you can do that, then go and enjoy this fun-filled train ride for what it
is, not for what it’s not.
3 ½*
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