Rohit Shetty has created his own brand of film making ..... There was something madcap about his golmaal series - characters that goof around , continuously rattle , cars that do gymnastics and some genuine laugh out loud parody ( mithun's flashback in 3) .. Every character had something to offer like the English speaking teja and Bheja , the snake act of vrajesh hirji apart from the lead actors ..
As he went on to remake Singham as Singam and golmaal ( the original) in Bol bacchan , his limitations as a director started getting apparent... Complete inability to weave genuine emotions ( bol bachchan) or sustain intensity ( singham) or have narrative smoothness... and his support cast faded away completely in favor of the lead actors ....
With Chennai Express he cant ask for better lead actors .. King Khan returning to comedy ( is it a return) is a welcome change given the wit he naturally has .. But wit is the least commercial of ingredients that fill a Rohit Shetty movie .. and when you have something called chennai express it is bound to have the share of cheap ' madrasi ' humor that typified mahmood, johny lever and anyone who doesn't know the difference between kannadigas and malayalis...
Chennai express hits a comedy note that has the SRK version of 'Enna rascala mind it ' in OSO that is part homage and part buffoonery .. Aptly typified in the thalaiva song - a tribute to the greatest icon of south Indian cinema Rajni sir being called a trivial lungi dance ... If you understand the pathos that this so called tribute creates , you will almost pardon the CE team for their sheer lack of knowledge ( the same way as you have to correct millions of Indians that idli is not like a chapatti eaten thrice a day)...
So no time for such deep talk ... It's time to board the train ... SRK is Rahul ( of course) a grandson of a halwai ( aptly named YY Mithaiwala) had no time for himself till 40 since he was busy serving jalebis and his Sachin eulogizing grandfather ( a caricature who looks like a maulvi trying to pass off as Santa Claus) ... As he dies watching Sachin get out at 99 on his 100th birthday ( is this fun) , Rahul has to take his ashes to Rameswaram .. Instead tired of bearing the responsibility always , he hatches a plan to go to Goa with his friends but boards Chennai express to convince his grandmom ( a very genuine kamini kaushal) ...
The journey begins with the DDLJ entry of Meenama ( Deepika) and her four asuralike cousins who want to take her back to the village komban Gaon so that she doesn't elope again... Some genuinely funny stuff follows like the antakshari in Hindi to ward off the cousins , they catching Rahul and his avoidance and so on till they reach Komban Gaon where Meenama introduces him as the man she wants to marry to her father Periya thalai ( Sathya raj ) .. Here comes the inexplicable ways off Rohit Shetty - when you expect a strong character the father gets the weakest hand in the movie just mouthing his standard ' Enna ma kannu' dialogues .. Now how does Shetty expect non Tamil movie watchers to understand that ' Enna ma kannu' to Sathyaraj is ' balma' to Shakti kapoor and moreover it's so misplaced here.. Anyway the movie chugs nicely as we get introduced to the fiancée of Meenama a giant of a man called thangabali ( played by the son of Pankaj dheer of karna fame) ... Now Rahul has to fight this guy in a duel but he and Meenama decide to escape that night .. More twists and situations and they fall in love and he returns to claim her hand with the ' power of a common man' with more cars being airborne than birds in the verdant plains of kombangaon...
The movie is watchable as SRK uses all his trademark skills - over rahulization ( Naam Suna hoga ) , his brand of smart comedy ( referring to Deepika as ms subtitle) and the flaring nostrils to save it and succeeds in depicting the hapless and helpless state .. He is in familiar territory in unknown territory types assurance.... But it's Deepika who brings in the strong filter kapi effect of dusky glory and 'chic'ory ( sorry couldn't resist) ..if Rahul's dictionary is so Bokwaas , her diction is mouth wash? With a weird combination of main Jaati , hyderabsdi and Tamil accent, Meenama shines like the fine jewelry and kanchivarams she adorns , stopping at 87% of what Kareena did in jab we met and probably what Sridevi could have done in her hey days ( watch deepika in the lunatic dream scene she has) .... They are weighed down by a weak second half and almost a disinterested director who just wanted to shoot some scenes well and leave the rest of the movie in the hands of the '100'hit marketing machinery with well managed lungi appearances on tv and a 800 print Eid release...
Btw The movie has so much Tamil dialogues and actors that it could have been the first official bilingual movie to come out of Bollywood ...however if it's a movie to pay homage to the south style movie making sweeping the commercial plans of Bollywood , It falls woefully short .. Because south style movie making has endearing characters , a deeper emotional core , better situations and foot tapping songs .. Dabangg had all of that but it was set in the northern milieu perfectly ... If you want to perfect it , I request Shetty to watch Gilli again from where he stole some of the chase scenes but left the chase half way just like he did in Singam ...
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