Ghanchakkar is a refreshing comedy revolving around a laid back criminal Sanju (Emran Hashmi) and his "fashionable" wife Neetu (Vidya Balan).
The film begins with the uneventful life of Sanju having to deal with his wife's bland food and his mother's doting phone-calls. Living a passive life and having somewhat given up his criminal days as a safe opening expert, he takes on a bank robbery job with Neetu cleverly pushing him into the decision.
Enter two seemingly unlikely scheming bandits Pandit and Idris the played superbly by Rajesh Sharma and Nimit Das who create the 'master plan'. The heist itself is brilliantly hilarious - Utpal Dutt's mask still cracks me up. After the successful robbery they decide to stay low for three months and forcefully give Sanju the responsibility of safekeeping the money.
Three months pass....and Sanju has lost his memory of the robbery...or has he? What ensues is determining who is scheming who! The film does lose its steam in some parts and would have done with some more threads but to the director's credit he still manages to keep the suspense and doesn't dumb the film down. Add to that Hashmi's poker face,which doesn't give much away, adding to the intrigue. Vidya Balan is also quite good as the dominating Punjabi wife.
The final act is surprisingly good for a Hindi film and keeps a few threads still open, leaving the viewer to interpret it in his own way. Overall a good effort, I certainly would recommend this unconventional comedy.
