Chupke Chupke

Today is 14th September, known as Hindi Day as per the Indian constitutional provisions. On this occasion, I am reviewing a classic comedy whose theme is the usage of the two languages - Hindi and English whose propagators are mostly seen at loggerheads in India. Yes, no prizes for guessing. It is Chupke Chupke (1975) which is unarguably one of the best Bollywood commedies of all times.

Chupke Chupke (quietly) is the story of Parimal Tripathi (Dharmendra), the professor of Botany who falls in love with a student of Botany - Surekha (Sharmila Tagore). After marriage, he comes to know of her fondness towards her brother-in-law or Jijaji (elder sister's husband) - Raghavendra (Om Prakash) who has not been able to attend their marriage. Just to prove himself before his wife, he masquerades as a driver speaking pure Hindi (without any use of English words) and enters Raghavendra's household. What follows is a two hours long laugh-riot for the audience in which, in addition to the mentioned ones, several characters get involved viz. Parimal's friend - Sukumar (Amitabh Bachchan), his another friend - Prashant (Asrani), Prashant's sister-in-law (wife's sister) - Vasudha (Jaya Bhaduri) and many more. Comic situations keep on coming before the spectators till the finale is reached with the truth being revealed before Raghavendra who acknowledges the wittiness of his brother-in-law, i.e., Parimal.

Legendary director - Hrishikesh Mukherjee has directed this movie whose script and dialogues have been written by another Bollywood legend - Gulzaar. It's not a slapstick comedy. It's a situational one whose brilliant script makes it a winner. Right from the very start to the very finish, there is no dearth of laughs for the audience. And the perfect comic timings of the lead characters, especially Dharmendra complement the script to serve its purpose to make the audience laugh again and again.

The inherent message is no less useful and worth remembering. No language is superior or inferior to any other one. Language is a medium of communication for the human-beings who have no business making fun of any language. The way Hindi is respectable, the same way English is. Each one of the two has its own positives (and negatives too) and it's in the interest of the Indians to appreciate the worth of both without mocking any of them.

Sachin Da (S.D. Burman) has composed pretty good music for the movie. The best song is - Abke Sajan Saawaan Mein sung by Lata. Other songs are also apt according to the mood of the movie. Anand Bakshi has penned appropriate lyrics for them.

Performance wise talking, this movie is definitely one of the best movies of Dharmendra. This versatile actor has proved quite emphatically that he is not only skilled in serious roles but he has no match in comedy also. Interestingly, Bollywood's most popular movie -Sholay which contains Dharmendra's another memorable comic performance was released in the same year. Dharmendra has left no stone unturned in making the audience laugh right from the beginning to the end. Om Prakash is the second best and Amitabh Bachchan is the third best in this work. Asrani, Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bhaduri, David, Keshto Mukherjee etc. all have done their parts well and generated showers of laughter for the viewers.

The technical and production value aspects of the movie adhere to the simplicity doctrine of Hrishi Da. Editing is good. Length is also perfect. Summing up, Chupke Chupke is a flawless movie.

Surprisingly, Chupke Chupke was not a box office hit when released. However, now it is considered a classic comedy which has unlimited repeat value. The way, the admirers of Sholay can watch it umpteen number of times, the same way Chupke Chupke can also be watched countless number of times and every time the laughter is guaranteed for the viewer.

A newly married professor implements an amusing plan for getting introduced with the family of his elder brother-in-law under false pretense. It is approved by his wife and actively supported by a few friends. The couple doubly enjoys the secrecy. They continue the whole plan of joking tricks until it becomes enough. Otherwise, they enjoy the desperate love relation in a climate of adventurous hiding.

A prolonged play of secret humor--the broad connotative meaning of the title-- does not lose its relish due to the compact screenplay, the excellent performances of the casts, proper editing, wonderful music by Sachin Deb Barman and a few other supportive constituents of the film. Though the social composition of the characters, the social nature of turns and twists of the sequences focus on the educated urban Indian middle class, the lucid narrative seems to communicate a stable flow of comedian pleasure to all viewers. The final revelation of the true identities among the characters is accelerated because of the maturity of a new love relation. The narrative seems to challenge softly some insensible social norms. It also expresses its deep conviction about love and honesty of individuals and obviously its trust on the creative capacity of intelligent and humorous individual.

Any regular Indian film lover would enjoy the nice acting of at least four film stars--Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bhaduri-- in simple social images and appreciate director Hrishikesh Mukherjee for another successful experiment. The film makes the spectator reminiscent of the genre, which rarely used the very close and the very long shots and rapid cuts. In spite of a theatrical design of the screenplay it could provide the actors and the actresses with the greater scope of establishing their performing talents. The use of bright light and sustained delight of the romantic characters in the family drama--initiated by an unconventionally sensitive, urban, academic personality--makes the film a bright entertainment.

Chupke Chupke is masterpiece by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, I love his style of story telling be it Bawarchi, Rang Birangi, Naram Garam, Golmaal, Khubsoorat, Buddha Mil Gaya, all of which are great movies. All his stories have very simple storyline, powerful cast, lots of human emotion and patriotism towards Indian culture and languages.

Dharmendra is truly amazing, and so is Amitabh Bachchan and rest of the cast supports them well. Since most of the dialogs are in pure Hindi, some people may find it difficult to follow. Hrishikesh Mukherjee through his movies and characters always pointed to some aspect or the other of the lives of Indian people, and hence all his characters always feel very real and get deep inside your skin and you become a part of the act.

The practical joke played by a Botany professor on his brother-in-law is the focus of the movie, as pointed out by other commenter. Chupke Chupke is a film in which the dialogs combine with the situations to collectively impart the comic momentum to the movie which persist till the very last minute, very very entertaining film, highly recommended for the entire family. If you liked this movie, then do give the movies mentioned at the beginning a shot, you would thank me later. :) also highly recommended.

Decades before David Dhawan and Priyadarshan rediscovered comedy in Indian Cinema and began their barrage of outings, the undisputed emperors in this genre were Hrishikesh Mukhejee and Basu Chatterjee.

Both relied heavily on creating a natural humour as opposed to what we witness today ie. mindless comedy/ situational comedy/ tongue-in-cheek comedy. And this very natural humour gives USP for "Chupke Chupke" repeat viewings.

Dharmendra:: Dharmendra gets the lions share in "Chupke Chupke". He proves his versatility as an actor by doing comedy effortlessly.

Om Prakash:: "Chupke Chupke" rests heavily on the performance from two actors namely Dharmendra and Om Prakash. If there was any short-coming from either, the entire proceedings would have fallen like a pack of cards. It goes without saying that it was fantastic performance from Mr. Om Prakash.

Big B:: An extended special appearance compared to Dharmendra. The panic-attack prone professor and his inability to hold his nerves is brilliantly breathed to life by Amitabh. Lets not forget that this movie got released in the same year as "Sholay" and "Deewar" which casted his image of angry young man in stone. Talk about chalk-and-cheese!

The rest of the star-cast namely Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bhaduri, Asrani, David and Keshto lend adequate support. S D Burman's composition to Anand Bakshi's lyrics are a music for ears. As with most successful outings of Hrishda, Gulzar's gets involved to contribute his two-cents in the department of screenplay and dialogues and needless to say makes the movie flow seamlessly.

Verdict:: Anytime is "Chupke Chupke" time!

The wikipedia defines FARCE thus: A farce is a comedy written for the stage or film which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humor of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending which often involves an elaborate chase scene.

Was it Hrishi Da's intention to create a farce in Chupke Chupke? The situation was unlikely, the set-up improbable, there was mistaken identity, lots of verbal humor in many different languages, there was sexual innuendo and some quite explicit goings on for a Hrishikesh film. In fact except for the chase seen all other elements were in place.

A few things that I found particularly hilarious: 1. The fixation on the Jeeja Saali relationship.

2. The hilarious use of Botany - and particularly Corolla! LOL! Jaya wanted the Botany Prof to teach her about the corolla, and it took him all night to study that up! And everyone would walk about with a flower in their hand.

3. The students who were most fascinated by corollas and by the handsome professor were ALL women. Was this Hrishi Da's wink wink nudge nudge at Botany being a pursuit for women? In fact a classy British store has a women's cardigan line called BOTANY! 4. Dharm was simply awesome. "Main jab ghabra jaata hoon to haklaata hoon, aur haklaata hoon to Urdu bolne lagta hoon!' His comic timing was perfect.

5. Amitabh was excellent too - his over-hyped nervous impersonator who studies up corollas all night and then starts off in a booming Shakespearean mode "There are ten types of.." only to be cut off by Jaya as she tell him she studied that part already! The film ended on a slightly unsatisfactory note but I don't know how else it could have culminated. All in all I gave it a 8/10, a lot of laughs and fine acting by the lead due. The ladies did very well too.