Laal Singh Chaddha

People are reviewing it negatively without even watching it. Shame on such people. I loved the movie. As good as the original one. A worth watching remake.

This film does not deserve a one star rating. Period. There are much worse movies than this. Neither is this a ten star film.

What it is, is a very faithful adaptation of Forrest Gump which successfully transplants an American story to an Indian milieu, and improves on Forrest's relationship with Jenny by leaps and bounds, giving it the story arc it originally deserved. The movie also does not pull any punches while showing historical incidents, and actually takes a huge risk by calling out organized religion on the whole (not a specific one as many have been led to believe) as the root cause of all evil (here Malaria). Forrest Gump was a far safer movie and seems tame in comparison - in Lal Singh Chaddha the recreation of the events is much more visceral and realistic and pack quite a punch. While performances from some of the cast including Kareena, Naga Chaitanya and Manav Vij are exceptional, the weakest link in the film is Aamir himself, who is inconsistent and hammy in the extreme in many scenes. Also, Lal Singh Chaddha could have been shorter and better edited but even with all its flaws, it is still heartwarming and funny and good for a one time watch, for both those who have seen Forrest Gump, and those who haven't. Please watch.

I had high expectations of Aamir Khan's new movie Laal Singh Chaddha (LSC) because it was in production since last four years. Though I did not agree Aamir Khan re-making an official adaptation of Forrest Gump - I was keen to see what Aamir Khan does this time.

But with the current wave against Muslims and Bollywood growing strong in Indian social media - especially against the three Khans, because they are Muslims disheartened me. Much before the movie's release #boycottlalsinghchaddha was trending.

And what I feared most happened - most movie critics did not give a thumbs up to the movie, and those who gave a good review were trolled with abuses. I just did not understand the whole "religious fanatic game" of people and groups who want to propagate a hate-campaign against a group of people just because they belong to a particular religion. For me, this is so unexpectable. Thus, I resolved the watch the movie but did not know when?

Then I heard a few songs of the movie and they grew over me - so much that I could not resist but go and see those songs on the BIG SCREEN. The songs, lyrics, music and emotions were so raw and magical. It touched my heart and I went to see the movie.

After watching the movie, I can say that - the movie is a very good adaptation of Forrest Gump. It has held the spine and core of the movie as is and done an excellent job in setting it in the Indian context.

While watching the movie, I could see the story of Forrest Gump running parallelly in my mind. I loved the minute details taken care in the movie especially during the opening credit song where the feather floats and lands up near Aamir Khan's shoes.

I have to say upfront that Aamir Khan has played the role of Laal Singh Chaddha slightly over the top and a bit tardy. A more subtle version would have been more acceptable. At times, in Aamir Khan's acting I saw repetitive shades of his earlier movies roles (Dhoom 3, PK, 3 Idiots) in his facial expressions and popped-eyes - bordering slightly like caricature characterisation of Mr. Beans. I think Aamir Khan should have avoided that part a bit. But that was and is - his and his team's interpretation of the character written by Atul Kulkarni. But as an audience - after interval, I accepted the character and acting with that bit of flaw and enjoyed the remainder part. I think Tom Hanks did not play this character this way. He was more perceptively delicate in his mannerism.

The real stars of the movie were Mona Singh as LSC's mother and Kareena Kapoor as LSC's lover. Whenever they came on the screen, the story commanded attention and involvement. Both these plots worked fantastically for me.

Naga Chaitainya's role as army friend of LSC - to bring lighter moments and comedy, was poorly conceived. Naga's make up and continuous references to under-garments did not bring the funny moments at all. A normal Naga Chaitainya with a normal business aspiration would have worked better.

Manav Vij as terrorist turned business partner of LSC was okay.

A special mention here for the roles played by child-artist by Ahmad Ibn Umar (young Aamir) and Hafsa Ashraf (young Kareena) - both of them leave strong impressions with their a warm-heart-tender moments of innocent love.

For me, the high points of the movie were the rendition of beautiful and soulful music and songs by music director Pritam, lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya and singers like Sonu Nigam, Mohan Kanna, Arijit Singh and Shipa Rao and others. Absolutely brilliant piece of work. These songs will have longevity beyond the life of the movie.

At times I felt that inter-weaving historical events was done forcefully. It did not take away anything from the movie by being there - and it also did not add much to the flow of the movie. Even if one removes all the historical events popping up here and there in the movie - the movie would have been quite watchable even without those.

Lastly, though the movie has not done good business as expected. I think, the movie was good. It just got entangled in the "Fascist fanatic religious fervour" times India is facing today - where everything and anything Muslim is trolled to be boycotted with vengeance.

Leaving such dirty politics aside - I think. This is a well-made movie and Aamir Khan and his team - especially Director Advait Chandan and writer Atul Kulkarni has done a very good job in adapting Forrest Gump into Indian context; and all of them should feel proud of making a nice movie.

LSG is much different than the run of the mill violent commercial south Indian style pan-India movies. Though critics and reviewers are saying that it is a slow and long movie, I did not find it so for a single moment. It is a FEEL-GOOD movie. I enjoyed it a lot.

I would go with 7.5 out of 10 for this movie.

The adaptation is very good! In few moments the film gonne be better than the original. Musics are wonderful, I've no words to say. Srk gave a super entry. Do watch the movie it's very good movie.

Finally watched the movie yesterday (13th August) along with my wife. To be honest, I didn't go with much expectation. Yes, this time I didn't rely on any review, be it in IMDB or any media for obvious reason, but I myself wasn't very much happy with the trailer. Still I went for two reasons- 1) To honor the original 'Forrest Gump'; 2) To honor an attempt to make a good Bollywood movie.

The hall was more than half empty even on a Saturday evening. The movie started and I sensed that people around me (including my love) are liking it, even those weird grunts from Aamir. However, me, already dissatisfied with the trailer and obsessed with the original cult classic, was actually waiting for the moment when i would start hating this movie. And the movie went on, then came the interval. And I was surprised, didn't realize when 80 minutes have passed by, and let alone hate it, I was actually starting to like this movie. But I was still waiting for the second half, because in some of the reviews I had read that the movie gets worse there. But eventually I gave up, I cannot hate this movie. In fact, no one can hate it unless that person is biased (either for the obsession towards the original movie or some other reason). When it ended and lights were turned on, I sensed satisfaction in everyone's face in the hall. This movie is good, definitely not as good as the original one (not even possible), but it is good enough tribute to Forrest.

If I try to think about the plus points, first thing comes in my mind is Mona Singh. She was just superb as Lal's Mother. The way she has portrayed a single mother's helplessness yet determination, is sublime. Also Manav Vij was good as Lt Dan's Bollywood counterpart. The cinematography was superb, each and every frame was made with utter care, like painting a picture. You might be happy to see some of your familiar places on screen. Even the brief war sequence was portrayed with such a detail and in such a realistic way, many dedicated war movies could take note of it. Apart from that, the make-up artist did a fabulous job, especially portraying the ageing characters. Music was superb. Some good social messages were there related to vices like family violence, terrorism, religious intolerance etc. Also it touches many historical events. Those who are boycotting this movie might actually be happy to see some of their beloved persons on screen, and definitely not in a disrespectful way. And like the original one, the biggest strength of this movie is it's simplicity. Watching this movie was as pleasing like eating a good meal, or reading a good book, or travelling to a picturesque location or listening to a good music. You won't realize when the time has passed by.

Now coming to the area of improvements. First thing as many have pointed (and I agree), was Amir's acting. Even if I ignore the similarity with some of his earlier characters, it was simply not good. Many times the overacting was cringeworthy. But despite of that, it is also true that his bad acting doesn't harm the movie that much. Second weak point in my opinion was Kareena. She looked good as always, but somehow she lacked the energy. Her acting could be much better in some of the definitive sequences. Also it was felt that she has actually aged over 40, even through the character's early 20 make-ups and glamorous dresses. Now it might be my mistake or because we know how she used to actually look in her 20's (For example, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham), but I wanted to honestly express what I felt (but let me be very clear here, I have no problem with actresses aging, I am not among those who think actresses finish when they age). Apart from that some big plot holes were there. I have already mentioned Manav Vij was very good as Lt Dan bollywood counterpart, but that character was not at all believable even though it was heart touching (I won't spoil the movie by describing why, you will realize if you watch the movie). Apart from that the movie never addresses important facts like what Rupa (Kareena) did during almost a decade (2000 - somewhere around 2010/ 2012), or how Lal used to manage his industrial empire from Pathankot. But the biggest weakness what I felt was the historical events depicted. Firstly, it casually touches many incidents, like just showing it as Lal hearing it from someone. Showing events in such way actually don't have any impact on viewer's mind. Many powerhouse incidents actually couldn't be felt because of it. Also another fact is that many recent incidents were shown, but as you know recent incidents actually have lesser impact on human mind than historical events. I was actually expecting a period piece here, starting from 1947 (the partition), ending in the 90's. However, that's totally my own opinion, you may agree or disagree.

So to summarize, go and watch the movie. You won't regret. It definitely deserves a much better rating than it actually got (Should have been around 7/10).

My personal rating - 7.5/10.