Cheeni Kum

Rarely do Bollywood movies live up to their hype. This one comes very close.

Amitabh Bachchan owns Spice6, the best Indian restaurant in London. To him, being a chef is more than a profession. It is an art, in fact, the greatest art of all. He personally ensures every dish that leaves his kitchen is up to his exacting standards. His employees respect him, but his angered outbursts send shivers down their spine. It is during one such outburst that he sees a dish, Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao no less, returned by a customer (Tabu) because it's too sweet (and hence the recommendation to reduce sugar or Cheeni Kum). Enraged, he walks up to the table, and challenges Tabu to make it any better. She leaves without uttering a word, but brings in some Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao the next day that even Amitabh finds delicious. He now owes her an apology, thus setting into motion a series of events that lead to attraction between the two, and finally love.

Although the age gap between Amitabh and Tabu is there to see, it is totally downplayed and doesn't even come into focus until later in the second half. Their exchanges are loaded with witty repartees and sarcastic remarks that leave the audience in splits. The tight script and screenplay make sure the movie progresses at a good pace although it was slow at times for my liking. I think the director fell for the Bollywood norm of making 2½ hour movies. Also, the movie loses its grip toward the end. The scenes are predictable and the melodrama avoidable. These are minor indiscretions of a first-time director, and in no way, reduce the overall appeal. If you ask me, it is certainly worth a second watch.

Amitabh is calm and composed. The role doesn't challenge him much, but he plays it with conviction. Tabu is brilliant. The last time I saw her was in Fanaa, and firmly believed she's insane. Not only did she pick the right movie here, she's ensured her character isn't sidelined. In fact, in several scenes, her character comes out on top of Amitabh's, and is credible thanks to her acting abilities. Zohra Sehgal, as Amitabh's mom, is on a roll. Swini Khara as Sexy, Amitabh's 7-year old neighbor is cute, and gets to deliver a few punch lines too. Paresh Rawal as Tabu's father is disappointing. His character is too clichéd and completely out of sync with the movie.

In sum, Cheeni Kum is no bitter pill. I rate it 4/5.

The title exactly sums sums up the film. Yes, it is not too sugarcoated but it has does not have much taste either. While the movie is appealing and a delight to watch in the first half and slowly seems to change track in the second half, things get a little too messy in the last third after Buddha goes to India to meet Neena's father. The first half works as a romantic comedy where Balki introduces the love story of the two interesting protagonists, Buddha (Amitabh Bachchan) and Neena (Tabu) There are some very funny feel good scenes. The comedy between Amitabh and Tabu works well and Zohra Sehgal is absolutely hilarious. Once Buddha lands in India things go haywire. Was the screenwriter suffering from writer's block and pressured to meet a deadline? Did he not find any other way to get Neena's father to accept the proposal or for Buddha to finally manage to convince Mr. Verma without showing all that forced melodrama? Tabu is charming and has amazing screen presence but her character isn't exactly well-written as a result of which her performance suffers. In the last third she is barely given importance. This is among her weakest performances but in all fairness to her, the script does not give her enough scope to make the character more appealing. Amitabh Bachchan returns to his angry man mode (again) and he severely hams at many scenes. Zohra Sehgal is a delight to watch and Swini Khara is wooden (her voice sounds a little monotonous but her non-verbal expressions are good at times) Why did the writer choose to give a little girl a nickname like 'Sexy' (forced humour?)?. Paresh Rawal gives a forgettable performance. In addition to that, there are some very passable songs (but nothing great) and the locations are nice to look at. Anyway, 'Cheeni Kum' mainly suffers because of bad writing and poor direction. I wouldn't want to watch it again.

I think this is truly a marvelous film. Very well scripted, and even more wonderfully enacted. Amitabh is truly the King of Hindi movies, you just have to watch him in those suits and Tabu has come of age as a seasoned actress, Paresh Rawal is OK.

An unusual story depicted with very realistic situations and laced with light-hearted humour. Oh the movie has some really witty dialogues too.

The cutest bits are the scenes between Amitabh and Zohra Sehgal (who plays his mom in the movie). Another highlight is the role played by the child actor aptly named sexy, who is very witty and worldly wise.

I think the bottom line of the movie is that girls mature faster than men do and thus age should really not be a bar when one looks for a life-partner.

After a long time,(for Hindi movie-goers) one gets to see a movie and say Ya! that was a NICE movie. And definitely worth a second watch.

An awesome movie; Amitabh and Tabu were just fantastic. I laughed almost throughout the movie and I loved the flawlessly spiced dialogue between Amitabh and Tabu. Cheeni Kum is about the unadulterated but sweetened love-story of a 64 year old man (I'm pretty sure Amitabh Bachchan is at that age right now in his real life) and a 34 year old woman.

An arrogantly sarcastic Buddhadev Gupta (Amitabh Bachchan), who is still a bachelor at 64 meets a 34 years old spinster, simple and sweet Nina Verma (Tabu) at his restaurant, one of London's top authentic Indian Restaurant. The similarities in their difference brings them together which culminated into a romance of a funnier genre.

There were many ingredients of spices, little more than a typical romantic Hindi Movie; besides Amitabh and Tabu, the sizzler of curly straight dialogue from the 9 year old Sexy (Swini Khara) is refreshing to make you laugh all along. The kiddish delight of the 58 year old Omprakash Verma's (Paresh Rawal) Gandhism as Nina's father was the ultimate dessert to the main course romance. Of course, Amitabh's 85 year old mother (Zohra Sehgal) who loves TV shows with muscle man and "Sex and the City" added enough flavor to make you reach out for the side dish that she flaunts.

I watched this immediately after jhoom barabar jhoom, and was very glad I did. JBJ was an AWFUL pile of bakvaas, and Amitabh's appearances in that movie were pointless and embarrassing (why was he trying to look like Stevie Ray Vaughan?) Cheeni kum was a very good movie. A little slower than it could have been, and maybe Amitabh's character was a little bit TOO "cheeni kum", but overall it was an intelligent and well put together film. There were several things not done as well as they could have been, including the shameful underutilization of Paresh Rawal, but overall this was a good try. It was certainly one of Amitabh's better roles of the last couple of years. Zohra was outstanding as was Swini Kehra, and the film examined the central issue well. Almost as well as the outstanding Dil Chahta Hai. After KJo cr*p like KANK, SLB's bloated rubbish (Black, Devdas) and the David Dhawan conveyor belt of pathetically unfunny "comedies", films like Cheeni Kum restore my faith in Hindi cinema. The central jodi was very plausible, and Tabu's character gave as good as she got, except for the scene at the restaurant with the fish (where her capitulation seemed out of character). I just wish that was at least one Cheeni Kum for every Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Plus I want to see more of Zohra before she leaves us, and more of the excellent Swini.