The coming together of three people made Chennai express such a much awaited film....
Shah Rukh Khan---The former Badshah of the box office ; his last chance to revive his fading stardom....
Deepika Padukone---The reigning queen of Bollywood....
And above all Rohit Shetty---The king of the 100 crore club , who's name is reputed to spell sheer mindless entertainment....
And when a film has raised the ante this high , the pressure is on the whole team which made the film to match up to the expectations.....
The 100 crores will come , and much more....but does the film really deliver what it promised or does the filmmaking team choke under pressure of expectations like the South African cricket team ??
First things first....
This is a film not made to impress the high brow intellectuals or even the film critics....
It's made to appeal to those half literate masses inhabiting a third world country called India---the west would scoff at such a film....
Along the way if the classes do like the film then good for them---but even if they dont then still the movie watching prowess of the masses is enough to propel the movie to the status of a hit....
But belonging to the classes as I do ( I do have an excessively high opinion of myself ) I was not too sure that it would appeal to me and went to see the movie only hesitatingly and because the producers had applied the smart technique of releasing the film in practically every available cinema hall---there was simply no other movie to watch except those which had been released earlier and had been seen by me....
So does the director choke like the South Africans or prove a continual winner like the Aussie cricketers who played under Steve Waugh ?
In fact , like Javed Miandad who hit a last ball six at Sharjah to silence his critics the director revels under pressure and proves himself to be king---once again....
And amazingly , the classes were applauding too....
As the interval of the film dawned the well groomed people whom I was surrounded by ( they were kind enough not to mind my not so well groomed presence ) took the opportunity of the break to try to speak some broken Tamil and mouth and shout some Tamil dialogues....it's as if Tamil had become the lingua franca of the cinema hall....
And as I went to pee in the toilet all that I heard in the toilet was non Tamil men trying their hand at Tamil....
I deliberately prolonged my pee to see if they would stop but the newer ones coming to pee also were trying to master the same language.....
Were they all practicing because they going to catch the Chennai express at the nearest station ??
Or was it the impact of the film ??
The director has pulled a real rabbit from the hat and shown several characters in the film speak only tamil---this has ensured a true blue Madrasi flavour to the movie....
The jokes are surprisingly intelligent and really funny....
But at some point you are going to get tired of the jokes and feel bored---as I did....
But the director knew the pulse of the audience better than I expected....
As the jokes became boring and repetitive he switched the mood of the movie from comedy to some romance and serious emotion.....and lo !! once again the movie became interesting.....
And you seamlessly and effortlessly understand what is happening even if some characters speak tamil---a real triumph of direction I feel....
Of course , the hero is a hindi speaker from Bollywood heartland---Mumbai what else....
But he wins the heart of a madrasi damsel....
And how ??!! By accompanying her on the Chennai express....
But not so easy !!
At first Shah Rukh's plan to get down at Kalyan and go to Goa from there to immerse his grandfather's ashes gets derailed in his effort to save Deepika from goons....
He in fact is forced to go with her and the goons up to Tamil Nadu in the Chennai express....
His dead grandfather would have approved---he actually wanted to get his ashes immersed in Rameshwaram anyway.....( Beware !! up there high above the clouds the ultimate superpower is watching---and controlling our actions as he controls our destiny....)
The goons who kidnap both Deepika and Shah Rukh are her father's men---she has run away from home because her father has fixed her marriage with another Don ( her father herself is a Don ) whom she does not want to marry , and Shah Rukh has got unwittingly mixed up in this....
And as Chennai express rolls on and finally halts and even beyond that when the story moves on in Tamil Nadu , we see some breathtaking photography of peninsular India---all evergreen countryside and majestic waterfalls and South Indian temples and sari clad women ( Deepika looks so wonderful in a saree !! ) and bridges crossing the sea and finally the deep blue ocean at Rameshwaram....
But Shah Rukh is not only unwitting but unwilling---why would he help Deepika a complete stranger ??
But Deepika has introduced Shah Rukh as the lover she ran away with to her father escape his wrath ( no she doesn't love Shah Rukh , not so early....) and Shah Rukh is deeper into this mess....
And before he can try to run away he has to confront some tough people---and like the common man that he is he chickens out from the confrontations.....
No wonder---the tough people he has to confront are really tall and superhefty guys ; each guy can be called a man mountain actually.....
Who in his right mind would fight them ??
And as he finally manages to run away he finds Deepika tugging along with him at every turn due to some twists of fate---a headache really.....
And do I even have to say that when two goodlooking people are thrown together constantly in hindi films then they fall in love ??
But to consummate that love the couple will have to turn back to face the DON ( her father ) and his goons who are all man mountains , and the person whom her father has fixed her marriage with---the biggest man mountain of them all....
So does the power of love give Shah Rukh the common man courage enough to fight them all ??
And does his grandfather's wish to get his ashes immersed in Rameshwaram come true ??
I suspect you all already know the answers....
It's the manner in which this all is filmed by the producers so that it is enjoyed by the audience that is important.....
And the filmmakers do this job with aplomb....
Verdict---magnificient entertainment .
Shah Rukh Khan---The former Badshah of the box office ; his last chance to revive his fading stardom....
Deepika Padukone---The reigning queen of Bollywood....
And above all Rohit Shetty---The king of the 100 crore club , who's name is reputed to spell sheer mindless entertainment....
And when a film has raised the ante this high , the pressure is on the whole team which made the film to match up to the expectations.....
The 100 crores will come , and much more....but does the film really deliver what it promised or does the filmmaking team choke under pressure of expectations like the South African cricket team ??
First things first....
This is a film not made to impress the high brow intellectuals or even the film critics....
It's made to appeal to those half literate masses inhabiting a third world country called India---the west would scoff at such a film....
Along the way if the classes do like the film then good for them---but even if they dont then still the movie watching prowess of the masses is enough to propel the movie to the status of a hit....
But belonging to the classes as I do ( I do have an excessively high opinion of myself ) I was not too sure that it would appeal to me and went to see the movie only hesitatingly and because the producers had applied the smart technique of releasing the film in practically every available cinema hall---there was simply no other movie to watch except those which had been released earlier and had been seen by me....
So does the director choke like the South Africans or prove a continual winner like the Aussie cricketers who played under Steve Waugh ?
In fact , like Javed Miandad who hit a last ball six at Sharjah to silence his critics the director revels under pressure and proves himself to be king---once again....
And amazingly , the classes were applauding too....
As the interval of the film dawned the well groomed people whom I was surrounded by ( they were kind enough not to mind my not so well groomed presence ) took the opportunity of the break to try to speak some broken Tamil and mouth and shout some Tamil dialogues....it's as if Tamil had become the lingua franca of the cinema hall....
And as I went to pee in the toilet all that I heard in the toilet was non Tamil men trying their hand at Tamil....
I deliberately prolonged my pee to see if they would stop but the newer ones coming to pee also were trying to master the same language.....
Were they all practicing because they going to catch the Chennai express at the nearest station ??
Or was it the impact of the film ??
The director has pulled a real rabbit from the hat and shown several characters in the film speak only tamil---this has ensured a true blue Madrasi flavour to the movie....
The jokes are surprisingly intelligent and really funny....
But at some point you are going to get tired of the jokes and feel bored---as I did....
But the director knew the pulse of the audience better than I expected....
As the jokes became boring and repetitive he switched the mood of the movie from comedy to some romance and serious emotion.....and lo !! once again the movie became interesting.....
And you seamlessly and effortlessly understand what is happening even if some characters speak tamil---a real triumph of direction I feel....
Of course , the hero is a hindi speaker from Bollywood heartland---Mumbai what else....
But he wins the heart of a madrasi damsel....
And how ??!! By accompanying her on the Chennai express....
But not so easy !!
At first Shah Rukh's plan to get down at Kalyan and go to Goa from there to immerse his grandfather's ashes gets derailed in his effort to save Deepika from goons....
He in fact is forced to go with her and the goons up to Tamil Nadu in the Chennai express....
His dead grandfather would have approved---he actually wanted to get his ashes immersed in Rameshwaram anyway.....( Beware !! up there high above the clouds the ultimate superpower is watching---and controlling our actions as he controls our destiny....)
The goons who kidnap both Deepika and Shah Rukh are her father's men---she has run away from home because her father has fixed her marriage with another Don ( her father herself is a Don ) whom she does not want to marry , and Shah Rukh has got unwittingly mixed up in this....
And as Chennai express rolls on and finally halts and even beyond that when the story moves on in Tamil Nadu , we see some breathtaking photography of peninsular India---all evergreen countryside and majestic waterfalls and South Indian temples and sari clad women ( Deepika looks so wonderful in a saree !! ) and bridges crossing the sea and finally the deep blue ocean at Rameshwaram....
But Shah Rukh is not only unwitting but unwilling---why would he help Deepika a complete stranger ??
But Deepika has introduced Shah Rukh as the lover she ran away with to her father escape his wrath ( no she doesn't love Shah Rukh , not so early....) and Shah Rukh is deeper into this mess....
And before he can try to run away he has to confront some tough people---and like the common man that he is he chickens out from the confrontations.....
No wonder---the tough people he has to confront are really tall and superhefty guys ; each guy can be called a man mountain actually.....
Who in his right mind would fight them ??
And as he finally manages to run away he finds Deepika tugging along with him at every turn due to some twists of fate---a headache really.....
And do I even have to say that when two goodlooking people are thrown together constantly in hindi films then they fall in love ??
But to consummate that love the couple will have to turn back to face the DON ( her father ) and his goons who are all man mountains , and the person whom her father has fixed her marriage with---the biggest man mountain of them all....
So does the power of love give Shah Rukh the common man courage enough to fight them all ??
And does his grandfather's wish to get his ashes immersed in Rameshwaram come true ??
I suspect you all already know the answers....
It's the manner in which this all is filmed by the producers so that it is enjoyed by the audience that is important.....
And the filmmakers do this job with aplomb....
Verdict---magnificient entertainment .
