Chaalis Chaurasi

Indian Express Ratings:*

At one point in this film,we see lots of thrusting groins. Ravi Kishan has the most flexible one,beating all the female dancers in the row. Atul Kulkarni and Kay Kay keep up gamely. And then comes Chaalis Chaurasi’s ace tush-shaker,Naseer himself. He does this not once,but twice. The naach-gaana featuring the Shah comes and goes,and you wait for the movie. All in vain,because ‘Chaalis Chaurasi’ is like an empty vessel,which rattles round noisily to no effect.

Let me amend that. Watching the film has had a huge effect on my equanimity,which I pat in place at the beginning of every film. The feeling of can-this-be-for-real keeps growing right from the start. Can a film featuring Naseer-Kay Kay-Atul-Sharma be this awful? Can it? This I can safely say : sure,there’s always room at the bottom,some films could be worse,but not by much.

The idea of four disparate types getting together with a mind to villainy can turn into an entertaining film. Naseer is an ex college professor who drives a car for a rich ‘seth’,Kay Kay is a car thief with a thing for an antique Fiat,Atul is a pimp who hangs out at coffee shops with bosomy babes,and Ravi is a drug-peddler who also services his pretty clients as part of business. This unlovely bunch is after a bag full of loot. So are some others,including a cop (Sharma) and his cohorts,and a rival group.

What we get is capable actors floundering,and a film that grows ever more incoherent and tedious as it lurches along among fellows pretending to be cops,bent policemen,mobsters hiding out in seedy hotel rooms,guns going rat-a-tat.

If this is the result of Naseer’s second coming,we’d rather he stuck to the original plan. Do less for more.

shubra.gupta@expressindia.com