All the A-for-apple screenplay wants to do is comfort us with clichés — say, the fact that friends you have lost touch with over the years will drop everything and land up the minute you reach out to them, even if they are in faraway lands.
Spoilers ahead…
Nitesh Tiwari’s Chhichhore feels like a drawing-board version of 3 Idiots, as though its script was assembled from the crumpled balls of paper Rajkumar Hirani and team tossed on the floor while brainstorming for their blockbuster. I’m no great fan of that movie, but this one’s worse. I couldn’t even get past the awful framing device of a teen (named Raghav) who attempts suicide because he fails to clear the JEE. (With the clumsy staging, you see the suicide attempt coming from a mile away.) So the boy’s father calls his college friends and makes them tell the boy tales that show how they were losers too, and that they masturbated a lot, and also cheated in sports and hardly attended class (apart from the stray library visit), and so “all izz well” if you don’t crack the exams right away, because there is always a next time.
No one doubts the immense value of this message, and of masturbation — though I certainly would have winced if my father and his friends gathered around me, joshing around with memories like, “Chhote nawab ke saath guftagoo karta hai?” I liked how this boy (played by Mohammad Samad, an appealing presence) was written. I felt for him. I liked how comfortable he was with his parents’ divorce. But the character is the cinematic equivalent of a bucket. He just exists so that the screenplay can be poured into him. I don’t want to get nostalgic about how films like Anand and Mili handled life lessons and the fact that a life was ebbing away. Or maybe I want to, if only to point out the classy way those screenplays were constructed. Chhichhore looks like someone had an idea for a film and decided that was enough.
It’s not about the jerk-off jokes, some of which are very funny. (And henceforth, I pity anyone nicknamed Bunty.) It’s about the writing, which has no texture. It’s just a bunch of “events” strung together. Sushant Singh Rajput (in an annoyingly fussy performance) and Shraddha Kapoor play Raghav’s parents. She keeps sniping at him, but we don’t get a real idea about why they grew apart. These are the things that differentiate stick figures from characters. But all the A-for-apple screenplay wants to do is comfort us with clichés — say, the fact that friends you have lost touch with over the years will drop everything (their family, their work) and land up by your boy’s bedside the minute you reach out to them, even if they are in faraway lands. It’s not because that’s what these characters would do. It’s because that’s what “friends” do.
We never get to know these characters (played by genial actors like Varun Sharma, Naveen Polishetty and Tushar Pandey) beyond a single trait. We don’t feel the closeness we did in Dil Chahta Hai. We know they are friends because the screenplay (aided by a syrupy score) tells us they are friends, with Rajendra Kumar-era lines like: Aise kaam mein busy kya ho gaye ki doston ko bhool gaye… These aren’t just friends. They are (wait for it) “family“. We know this not because we sense this sentiment but because there’s actually a line that says “these aren’t just friends, they are family”. The second half morphs into a series of sports events, with a Jo Jeeta Wahi Sikandar flavour. Some of the slapstick made me laugh. But I was more amused by the doctor who pops out periodically, in the present-day portions, and keeps making grave pronouncements about Raghav’s health. Heck doc, like there’s any doubt about the boy’s fate. He’s listening to all these stories about masturbation. Of course, he will rise.
Copyright ©2019 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Paras
September 12, 2019
This movie and BR’s review on it can be part of a Masterclass on Screenplay writing and Character Development.. Beautiful writing BR.
And your last line BR….so cruel..I just about fell from my chair 🙂
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pagli
September 12, 2019
this review echos my thoughts, I think these days , a weird genre has emerged in Bollywood “message movie genre”. One just has to give some boring platitudes and make a decent movie to be lauded just for some stupid message but i guess one can’t fight with majority. Why don’t people use whatsupp to send messages and since when people have convinced themselves that they need to spend 200 rs ticket to get some message from people living in Juhu/Bandra
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bart
September 12, 2019
ahmm.. Very enjoyable read..
Summary: Bucket shall rise but not worth a ticket’s price..
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Sri Prabhuram
September 12, 2019
Really want you to see Saaho.
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Vikram s
September 12, 2019
That last line…. :-))
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Sri Prabhuram
September 12, 2019
It’s quite common in Tamil cinema as well.
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Purvy
September 12, 2019
Differ to agree at some points…if you look at it from a layman cinema goers point of view..
I have experienced friends reuniting in wierdest possible manners after years and that too post pledges of renouncing each other after bad fights…
Life itself is so disjointed in todays day and age…disjointed cinema seems relatable and that is all matters if you leave certain incomprehensible parts to be fragments of cinematic expressions which of course neednt be comprehensible by protocol.
😁😁
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Apu
September 13, 2019
I am a little surprised by the review. Though I have not seen the movie, many of my acquaintances quite enjoyed it and said it reminded them of their engineering college days. I guess guys would know what happened in their own hostel rooms etc when we girls were not present. Most of the times girls’ hostels and girls in college have been presented very unrealistically in Hindi movies, so wish someone made a movie on us (not the Veere di wedding type).
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Sanjay
September 13, 2019
In my humble opinion this is coming across as a totally bias review. This movie is directed by Nitesh Tiwari and even if we disregard the Dangal credits which were partly due to Aamir’s involvement, the director has shown his caibre with Chillar Party and Bhootnath Returns both successful outings apart from Barielly Ki Barfi , Nil Battey where he assisted his wife.
Reading this review one can sense the hit job and it seems Karan Johar gangs keeps infecting the whole filmy sphere one way or the other. Flattery works and even the sane minds sometime lose the perspective in remaining objective to the job at hand.
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Srinivas R
September 14, 2019
@Sanjay – your comment sounds very condescending. I am not able to understand how did Karan Johar’s influence come into picture?
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odiyan hater
September 14, 2019
Dear Sanjay, how can you call Brangan biased without having seen the film yourself… you feeling the film can’t be bad based on the director’s past work is actually what’s biased here…
Also, I have seen both Dangal and Bhoothnath Returns and both of them are lame in my opinion. Dangal is just another underdog sports movie with just an added element of women trying to achieve in patriarchal India… The movie was underwhelming as f after all the glorious reviews it got… I felt – “all this gloating abt ‘this’?!!”
Bhootnath returns had a fun first half (again with the usual invisible man tropes but well executed nonetheless) but the second half turned into a full blown PSA about elections and how everyone should vote – in one of the scenes amitabh bachchan infantilizes the whole issue of how only 30% of the people vote using carom coins or glasses or something (the kabir khan of chak de trope)…
I am not saying these are not well written or executed movies – these movies are written keeping in mind the melodrama loving indian audience and achieves what they set out to do but this intention in itself is not ambitious in the first place – Raju Hirani is the master hack at plucking the low hanging fruit and looking like a genius and Nitesh Tiwari actually makes Raju Hirani look like a genius in comparison…
Regarding Brangan being a part of the Karan Johar gang…guess you haven’t heard about brangan’s Mani Ratnam bias – tomorrow someone else’s name might pop up…Instead of blaming brangan stop encouraging such mediocre filmmaking in hindi cinema…
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Dhritashatra
September 15, 2019
I think Sanjay is the blind one here!
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Sanjay
September 16, 2019
Odiyan much of what you say is correct. I was disturbed by the absolute bashing tone of the review by Rangan here for this movie which is nothing more or less than all the rubbish churned out each week which is considered ‘master class in content film-making. An Jo with his comment in the other thread has well-articulated what’s ailing the hindi film industry psyche at the moment. I was taken aback by the selective bashing of the movie.
On my comment it is well established Baradwaj with his sound take on movies is now a very priced commodity and within the filmy domain has branched out to be a heavy duty ‘social media influencer.’ The powers to be have noticed this new trend but unlike the other ‘up for sale iinfluencers’ , the educated, well-read types need a different approach and there in comes the flattery mode of courting which Karan Johar types have mastered. Kjo openly did this with Kashyap and gang but ended up dumping them when nothing came of it.
Sushant and Ayushman and the so called outsiders need a fair hearing and I am happy with the progress made this year is converting to audience love which will eventually make these power players to sit up and take note and look beyond their nepotistic breed of Ranbir, Ranveer and Varun.
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Apu
September 18, 2019
I am a little confused when people group Ranveer with the nepotism team of Ranbir and Varun. There can be “favorites” but AFAIK Ranveer Singh does not have any industry connections in his family, does he?
Anyway, this is NOT a nepotism thread, so only pointing out a particular name, thanks.
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Sai Ashwin
September 18, 2019
@Apu
Ranveer Singh is a cousin(a bit distant) of Sonam Kapoor and his grandmother acted in a few films apparently. He is not a complete outsider but not a nepo kid like Ranbir, Varun etc. somewhere in the middle just like his choice of movies.
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vinjk
September 19, 2019
@odiyan hater
After Odiyan, Lucifer came and after that now Ittymani is here…
#JustSaying
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Sanjay Varnwal
September 22, 2019
Disagree with the reviewer here and I am sure the majority of people are disagreeing too, except a few who are commenting here and showing their deep knowledge of cinema. Despite not having a star presence of Khans/Kumars/Ranbir/Ranveer etc, this movie picked up from strength to strength.
Was not convinced with the trailer and thought it to be just another average movie. But, after hearing good words from friends, eventually went to watch the movie. And, boy what a movie it was! Completely relatable. The environment, characters, fight for GC, comedy, final message, everything. Just loved the way movie was structured and the story was shown. There were some blemishes though. Which movie does not has. But, overall a fun trip down to the memory lane. I am sure people who have stayed in engineering colleges for 4 years would relate to it. Audience response shows this is right.
Nitesh Tiwari is slowly becoming one of the top-notch directors we have in BTown. All the best to all his future endeavors.
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odiyan Hater
September 22, 2019
@vinjk
Lucifer was a pretty average experience with Prithviraj and Murail Gopy using Mohnalal’s stardom to project their pet themes and tropes…
Ittimani; I haven’t it seen it yet and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to summon the guts required to do so…
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Kasturi Jadhav
October 30, 2019
BR, (if I may call you that) I felt like I was listening to exactly how I felt about the movie through you. Thank you for writing the way you do, as honest as a review can get. 🙂
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Amit Joki
June 14, 2020
I watched this today and was shaken. Watched Lunchbox after Irrfan Khan’s demise as well. 2020 is cruel man. Just cruel.
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Ramit
June 22, 2020
Recently watched it on Hotstar. It’s quite a clever take on nepotism versus outsider debate. The Hostel 3 has a legacy of ‘winning’. It’s dominated by privileged people like Prateik Babbar (son of Smita Patil and Raj Babbar). The Hostel 4 has a tag of ‘losers’. It’s inhabited by outsiders like Sushant, Varun, Naveen, etc. Hostel 3 (established production houses) want to win at any cost. They try to buy the talent, asking them not to align with other hostel (studios). Some concede, some don’t. Those who don’t face a backlash. Sinister comments, blinds. But the outsiders are hardworking people. They leave their mark even if they don’t win GC (100 cr club). Opportunities might be less, but they are striving.
Then why Sushant? Why did you do it? We were supporting you, didn’t you know that?
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Marik
July 14, 2020
Love You Sushant! Love you for Chhichhore. You gave us a movie in which you taught us about how to deal with depression. I can never believe that such a person can ever do wrong!
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