Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi

The movie's theme was hinted in the first scene itself. It was always clear that it was going to be the story of the three brothers who would try their best to keep distance from the ladies but would somehow get stuck in the romantic scenarios. This was clearly a good opening for the comedy and the first half of the movie is as satisfying as it could get. Not only does it manage to generate some good laughter but the build up for the plot was also excellent. It was also interesting how the multiple circumstances were connected in order to reach the conclusion. Most of the songs are played in the first half itself and even though almost everytime a random scene suddenly turns into a song sequence, the songs do not seem misplaced by any means. They are all placed in accordance with the characters' situations. The soundtrack of this movie deserves the popularity it has. Almost all songs are catchy and never get old. Classic in true sense.

The quality declines in the second half though. Most of the comedy scenes in the second half either felt outdated or were pretty lame. The movie certainly wasn't as humourous as it felt in the first half. The villains too were one-dimensional and the plot progression too felt ordinary.

What kept this movie from being one time watch was the brilliant characterization of all the main characters. Their motivation and the character development were brilliantly done and their goofiness was really good to watch.

This is a true classic! Simple story, wonderful music, great acting, brilliant cast and phenomenally hilarious!!!

Three brothers (brothers in real life too) manage a car repairshop, the eldest (Ashok Kumar) being a misogynist because he was jilted once. Hence, he does not want his younger, and in his eyes, naive brothers to go after women. So, he stops them from any female contact whatsoever. But the inevitable happens, and they fall in love one after the other. What ensues is all sorts of hilarious situations - an enormously funny boxing match (between the eldest and the youngest brother, played brilliantly by Kishore Kumar) where the referee (Anup Kumar playing the middle brother) gets knocked out, crazy detective routines, an out of this world car race and the typical climax - a fight sequence.

This movie stands tall amongst the greatest comedies ever, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Singin' in the Rain, Modern Times etc. Shows you that you do not need to get obscene or profane to get laughs! And believe me, this one gives you more laughs than you can handle!!!

I need not repeat what very aptly the 3 above reviewers: Birdoberoi,Manoj Agrawal & Headley Lamar wrote, great reviews. I will write something to add a zing to it. The movie is funny and added a lot by super acting of Madhubala. The dialogues by G. Moonis and Ramesh Pant create excellent situation. S. D. Burman arranged the music very beautifully to the lyrics of Majrooh Sultanpuri. All 3 brothers were good in their roles but the movie would not have been the biggest box office hit of 1958 without Madhubala. If you remove 5 following references the movie would have been outright failure, just as Kishore wanted it to be, a FLOP (so he could take losses and reduce the taxes he owed to Govt., but Fate had other plans!): 1. Rain soaked Madhubala's visit to Mohan Garage at midnight, a 10 or more minutes of her being drenched in wet clothes. 2. Kishore's dream while asleep in Madhubala's car and singing "5 Rupaiya" 3. Kishore wakes up and finds way in to Madhubala's bedroom, she is asleep in night suit then the funny scuffle that follows, excellent natural acting by Madhubala. 4.Madhubala taking Kishore out for picnic and they sing "Haal kaisa hai janab" 5. Madhubala stalling the villain and singing "Ruk jao na ji". Point in case.It is quintessentially her performance that brought such monumental success to the movie. Just a note if you don't know it contrary to the movie story where Madhubala likes Mannu(Kishore)in reality during the shooting our Kishore da fell head over heels for Madhubala and it is said he even threatened to commit suicide if she won't marry him (even though he was already married, so eccentric was our Kishore da). The chemistry between the two in the movie is incredible where he plays naive yet likes her company. It is a classic movie and even though in Black & white but will never get old. A very clean movie a delight for next 10 generations to come.

Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) : Brief Review -

What Mughal-E-Azam means to grandeur cinema, CKNG means to comedy cinema. Bollywood's answer to classic Hollywood musicals from the golden age. I have been through this movie many times during childhood, but the actual fun is experienced today only. Maybe because I have seen a lot of old Hollywood classics that defined and established formulas, genres, and sub-genres in the early talkie era. I can recall at least 5 dozen classic comedies (including rom-coms, screwball, and musical comedies) from the golden age of Hollywood (30s-50s), and yet, I can proudly say that Bollywood made this classic musical comedy in the late 50s. So, we were late, but not as late as they expected us to be. Even Hollywood wasn't really good with multistarrer comedies in that period, so Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi has an upper hand there. It's non-stop entertainment. Almost every comedy movie feels boring for at least 5 minutes here and there, but this one literally has no such moments. Usually, songs work as loo breaks, but here, songs are even better than the narrative. In Hollywood movies, musical numbers are there to define the situation and carry the story or narrative forward, but in Bollywood, music has always been a different setup of entertainment. For that, the story had to be dropped for 5 minutes. Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi broke that stereotype for filmmakers and audiences. You see the songs, how they are designed, how the tunes match the tone of the situations, and how brilliantly the lyrics put the situation in words. Pure masterclass! Many typical plot holes and subtexts were established here. Just keep an eye on them, and you'll realize how important this film was for the Bollywood industry. What's more? We have seen the same templates used in the 90s comedy (that's 30 years later). Imagine the impact it must have had on audiences in the 50s. Evergreen Comedy and Iconic Album Hands down.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

It seems Ganguli brothers were a huge fan of Marx Brothers Movies and that's what their source of inspiration was when they made "Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi". But the inspiration is limited only to the idea of all three brothers acting in a musical and a comical thriller. The movie is a showcase of talents of ever talented brothers Ashok Kumar, Anup Kumar and specifically Kishore Kumar. Watch him singing melodious "Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi si", naughty "Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab Ka", hilarious "Paanch Rupaiya Barah Aana" or mad cap "Hum The Woh Thi". If there ever was a true all rounder in Indian Cinema, it was the Singer, Composer, Writer, Director and Actor Kishore Kumar and arguably he is the only Genius that bollywood has ever produced. Almost 20 years now that he died of a heart attack but you can still see his style reverberating amongst the new generation of performers.