Chalte Chalte

ShahRukh Khan has come a long way from the "Bazigar" mold, I mean the gory scenes with histrionics that him dying in his mothers lap. Here he is a Truck driver who stalks a rich Greek born Indian lassie played by the round faced and raspy voiced Rani Mukherjee who is fresh form the throngs of a similar themed movie "Saathiya"; when she replaced Ash Rai. So Rani is in her native domain so to speak and she is even getting good at these roles depicting a newly married with better expectations and duelling to get it. The fast dialog helps to forefront the couple that have time to fight over mundane things that hard working couple would not have time for. The truck driver character fits Sharukh like a Glove, he is more believable than a Lover caught between two women (Devdas). He has flair for few things like when he erupts unexpectedly like a volcano than the emotional pleadings. A good story could be told well without innately intrusive comics and foreign locations, which have become integral part of the Hindi Movies these days. Some of the best movies like "Mr&Mrs Iyer", "Guide", did not have foreign locations or innately intrusive comics. This paranoia that is prevailing among the Filmmakers that the audience is starved for a comedy interludes has to stop. Other than few flaws I enjoyed this movie and one of the few movies I sincerely feel that Sharukh Khan has given his true potential instead of his head shaking histrionics that makes his audience shriek but does nothing to the coffers in the box office nor the audience whose choice and aesthetics is changing and it is changing for the better.

I don't know why, but I get the feeling that a lot of the so-called critics mocking the way Hindi movies are done, are thinking it just isn't right.

I for one have come to accept the whole song and dance routine, the sometimes awful acting and outrageous production. (don't expect the song and dance routines to go away anytime soon guys, the companies make just as much money through their sales, as the movie, if not more than the movie takes in!)

But credit where credit is due. As I am writing this post at an early 4:30 on the 8th sept, the intro screen for the Chalte Chalte DVD is on repeat.

Having just watched (which always seems to make me apprehensive as to what I might be letting myself in for while I put any Hindi movie on) Chalte Chalte, I was totally blown away!

I never thought I was one for Hindi movies (I have a collection of over 400 Hollywood movies) because I believed that they were just silly! but, I have been proved wrong! Shah Rukh Khan is, as usual, fabulous, the story touches on a subject that most Asian families would rather sweep under the mat and put on fake smiles to!

But this is exactly what makes Chalte Chalte a cut above the rest movie, and where, in my opinion, is beginning to show how everything within these movies are progressing to higher levels.

Rani Mukherji has also put in a great performance as the trying to get blood out of a stone wife of SRK.

I would recommend Chalte Chalte to anyone whether you are die hard Hindi fans or not! My perceptions towards Hindi movies have completely changed after watching a string of titles... give it a bit more time, and I'm sure even western movie fans will be singing their praise! :)

I really liked this movie even if it's true in some scenes we feel bored and I think it could be better done.

Yet the songs are really nice. The landscapes also (especially the one in Europe). The story is simple but I think it was the intention of the producer (to produce something which relates the reality).

I give 7/10 to this movie especially for the songs and for the landscapes which take us miles away at least during 3 hours so we forget our problems and daily life to enter in the world of 2 "different" kind of lovers which 2 opposite personalities.

To watch more than one time because really enjoyable songs, musics and landscapes!

Priya's (Rani Muherjee) performance as a controlling, dominating, "Nit picking" "Neat freak" wife was excellent +! Raj's(Shahrukh Khan)performance as a hard worker, responsible, faithful and romantic husband was Outstanding! Music, songs and dances were beautiful, lively and sexy. They looked like a lovely couple. They loved each other very much and were faithful to each other but it appeared that there were personality conflicts, and family class differences between them because Priya was from a upper class family and Raj was from a middle class family. According to Priya's family, Sameer was the ideal husband for pry, but Priya chose Raj as her husband.

Priya's aunt interfered in Priya's and Raj's marriage. She did not approve Priya's new friends whom she had met through Raj. She also did not approve Priya's life style and believed Priya was not leading a life style that her family had dreamed and had hoped for her.

Raj was positively proud of his hard work and his accomplishments as a business man. Knowing that how Priya's family felt about him, he felt inferior when he was around Priya's family especially aroungd Aunt Anna and Sameer as Sameer was the person Priya's parents had chosen for her as an ideal husband.

Priya did not compliment Raj in a party that was hosted by Sameer although she complimented Sameer. Feeling inferior and insecure, Raj had to ask a waiter about his suit and Watch while Priya was dancing with Sameer.

At home, Priya refused to eat dinner after Raj had complimented her cooking. She also refused to hug him after he had brought her flowers and vegetables and had washed the dishes after coming home working all day while Priya was a home maker.

Raj ran into financial difficulties with his business. He did not approach his father asking for help. He did not go to her relatives or friends asking for help. Priya did not approach her father for help. She did not go to her relatives and friends either. She went to Smaeer asking for help. He gave her 2.5 million rupees as a favior. Priya falsified to Raj about where she received the funds. When Raj had found out about from whom she got the money from, the hell broke loose. Later, Sameer made it look like only a loan.

Although Priya had admitted to Sameer it was wrong for her to accept money from Sameer, she never appolagized to Raj for accepting the money.

No one in the world is perfect. There are no perfect marriages in the whole world. Raj took all the blames. He fell on his keens and publicly appoligized to Priya, Aunt Anna and Sameer for every problems in their marriage.

Raj is a hard worker, family type of person, he loved Priya very very much and was a faithful husband to her.

After considering the type of person Raj is and if some like Raj was to be my husband, I would have eaten my dinner with him. I would have greeted him at the door with a hug or kiss when he had arrived with vegetables and flowers. I would not have nagged him every night about petty things until he had exploded. As a home maker, I would have put away his shoes and would have hung up his jacket after he had returned home from a hard day of work. I would have appoligized for being a nagging wife. I would have apolagized for requesting and accepting money from Sameer because it takes at least two to tangle

Chalte Chalte (`Walk Along') is a mainstream Bollywood romance that goes one better. Instead of leaving you at the altar to assume that `they lived happily ever after', Chalte Chalte takes you inside the marriage after Boy meets Girl, Boy wins Girl, to experience Man faces the realities of life with Woman.

Start with Raj (Shah Rukh Khan), a middle class guy who owns a small transport company. Raj is messy, impulsive, quick tempered: a guy who acts in haste and repents at leisure. One day he bumps into Priya (Rani Mukerjee), a beautiful, sophisticated upper-class fashion designer born in Greece and raised in luxury. Priya is organized and efficient; passionate, but always proper. Also a bit of a snob, she assumes Raj is merely a truck driver and snubs him accordingly.

Love blossoms, but the road to happiness is never smooth in Bollywood: Priya becomes engaged to her childhood friend, Sameer, a wealthy businessman from Priya's world of money and privilege. Raj, not wanting to spend the rest of his life regretting `if only' follows Priya to Greece to convince her that he, not Sameer, is the man of her dreams. Not so amazingly, he manages to succeed.

Your typical Bolly romance would be running the end credits about now, but we're just at the interval. The rest of the film switches from sun and sea drenched beauty of Greece to the mundane colors of Mumbai, and Raj's messy apartment. Now daily life intrudes, and Raj is left trying to keep the grand promises he so easily made when Priya was a prize to be obtained.

Chalte Chalte provides a mature look into a marriage, not of two movie stars, but of Mr. and Mrs. Anybody. The charm, or the drawback, depending on how you view it, is that the film has no real plot, no villains, no heros. Just real people doing the best they can with what they have, and with whom they've chosen. The problems Raj and Priya face are problems that all married people the world over face every day: disapproving in-laws, money problems, personality clashes, and on and on. The film works best for me on its most mundane level: arguments over wet towels on the bed, shoes on the floor, appointments missed, arguments about anything and everything, and then the making up, the kissing and cooing and apologies before starting another round.

Most of the performances in Chalte are solid. The supporting players, including Satish Shah and Lilette Dubay are wonderful, and though a handful of new-comers intrude on the flow of the film from time to time, their presence helps develop the story and provide narration and a bit of comic relief. The usually shrill and obnoxious Johnny Lever shows some welcome restraint this time, and creates an endearingly poignant character who helps tell the story in yet another way.

Rani Mukerjee, in my opinion one of India's best actresses, is stunning, both in appearance and in her acting. She exudes a warmth, a naturalness and a realness that makes you want to be her best friend, or her lover. With her exotic amber eyes and husky voice she is spellbinding in all her scenes, an intriguing mixture of sexy sophistication and little girl charm rolled into one.

But this movie belongs to Shah Rukh Khan, and no mistake. Coming after the opulent success of Devdas, and the larger than life Asoka, Raj is Everyman, a regular guy with money problems, wife problems, ego problems, problems, problems, problems. Khan is brilliant, and totally believable as a middle class business owner, struggling to keep up with everyday life. Usually prone to bursts of hammy over-acting, in Chalte Chalte he is restrained and controlled in every scene. Even in those moments when Raj is rampaging over his wife's well-intentioned betrayal, or on his knees humiliating himself in a crowded airport in front of Priya's snooty relatives, begging her not to leave him, Khan never goes over the top in his acting. Gone is the bratty charmer of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge: this Raj is a mature, sensitive lover, and a bumbling husband, willing in the end to sacrifice even his male Indian pride for his love. Shah Rukh Khan has a definite gift for creating complex characters who don't fall easily into good-guy, bad-guy categories, and Chalte Chalte's Raj is one of those characters. The story has a definite (and intentional) been-there-done-that feel, but Khan is the reason to watch it all one more time.

There are those who say the movie has no ending, no resolution, and at first viewing I was one of them. But on second viewing I came away feeling that both Raj and Priya had in fact learned important lessons about each other and themselves. Priya, coming from the upper classes does not at first understand the inner demons Raj has to grapple with, knowing he is from a lower class, and that however successful he might become, to Priya's snobbish Anna Aunty he will never be more than a truck driver. Raj has to learn to put aside his ego if he wishes to remain with Priya, and respect her feelings and attachments, even though they are uncomfortable for him. In the end they both realize that life goes on, you do your best and forgive each other's flaws and mistakes, and love will get you through. Chalte Chalte.

The music of Chalte Chalte is a good mix. There are a couple of catchy tunes that will grab you immediately, a couple of ballads that might have to grow on you, and a couple of poignant numbers that I found to be hauntingly evocative during the sadder moments of the film. At times the background score does become a bit loud and intrusive, but on the whole I found it to be quite beautiful. The choreography was nice, if not overly exuberant (perhaps due to Khan's highly publicized back problems), the cinematography is gorgeous, and there are some dialogues and scenes that will stay with you long after the film has ended.

There are a couple of scenes that I would have trimmed, most notably the climax which starts out very movingly, but then lags a bit because of length, and the fact that the entire cast are in danger of drowning in glycerine. But Chalte Chalte is a thoughtful offering that will leave you pondering after the closing credits.