Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi

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!!!

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 Most of the comedy scenes in the second half either felt outdated or were pretty lame.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.

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.

This is a three hour long light hearted story of three brothers. The film has a good storyline and is not a collection of comic situations. This has made the movie last these 60 years. The director stcks to the screenplay, the actors adhere to their director. The music lifts the movie A must watch.

The Ganguly brothers came together for this hilarious venture. This story of a misogynist older brother (Ashok Kumar), an inept and sycophantic middle brother (Anup Kumar), and a simple yet suave younger brother (Kishore Kumar) will have you in stitches. Directed by Satyan Bose, the film had a plump and cute Madhubala in the lead.

I love Ashok Kumar as the older brother who is trying to keep his brothers away from all contact with women, Kishore as the younger brother who is falling for a woman who came to the car repair garage late one night, but most of all I find Anup Kumar incomparable as the middle brother who veers from side to side, unable to take a stand. He was a comic genius in this film. O Mannu Tera Hua Ab Mera Kya Hoga!!! LOL! Sachin Dev Burman spun magic in the songs that were situationally perfect and often hilarious! Ek Ladki Bheego Bhaagi Si was super melodious. The fantasy number Main Sitaron Kaa Tarana had Madhubala in a classical dance garb carrying a black purse! Hal Kaisa Hai Zanab Kaa, and Hum The Woh Thi were so cute. There was an excellent Mujra by the duo of Helen and Cuckoo, in which you can see Helen excel in a rare classical number.

The story was interesting, acting great by all the actors. I consider a pick me up kind of film and watch it and laugh at it any number of times. If you have not yet seen it what are you waiting for?