Chup Chup Ke (2006)

Memorable, crazy movie

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

This movie is a remake of a Malayalam Movie Priyadarsan made several years ago. The Malayalam movie was genius. It had no trouble mixing comedy and drama. Proving that mixing these two genres is very much possible. Heck the Malayalam movie was so good any person who's watched it, would still stop whatever they're doing to get another glimpse of scenes from the movie if some scene from the movie happens to be played somewhere around them.So why was this movie so much worse than the Malayalam version? Well, let's see what changed, shall we? Pretty much the only thing that changed, was the cast. Actors in the Bollywood version was so horrible, it's incredible. In fact, the only person who acted well in the movie was Kareena Kapoor. Shahid simply did not do a good enough job adapting to the character. Not to an extend that is expected of him, who's otherwise a brilliant actor.Not even the comedians were able to pull of the brilliant Comic breaks that was scripted for them. Bollywood has evolved into an industry people seek to join for it's glamour, and nothing but the glam and money. These days, it only has a handful of good actors. While the rest are popular only due to glam and gossiping. Shameful!

The risk of making comedy is sometimes the director chases his tail and goes overboard. So how does Chup Chup Ke fare then? Shahid - One word "mediocore". Kareena - Having missed role of a life-time in Black, I expected her to fight back with stunning performance as a mute girl. "Expectations reduces joy", ah! - I am a wise man now.BTW - the love track between the two appears force-fit. Is it missing on-screen chemistry?Sunil Shetty - Makes entry just a couple of seconds before interval and is his usual self. Neha Dhupia - Wonder how Priyadarshan convinced this glam doll to play second fiddle? Bait: Gets to sing the songs (since Kareena is mute). Nevertheless, meatier and better performance than Kareena. Paresh Rawal seems undisputed king of comedy and his chemistry with Rajpal Yadav is great. Off-late the latter is being accused of substituting Johnny Lever. With Chup Chup Ke, Rajpal Yadav should silence his critics (how long? my guess is as good as yours!). Other Priyan regulars don't leave any lasting impression which include Om Puri and Asrani. Shakti Kapoor's love-track gets axed on the editing table. Anupam Kher, as usual does his part well as a principled father.A couple of songs in the movie are good - thanks to the latest craze, Himesh Reshammiya. The downside - a la Hum Aapke Hain Koun!! The promo song "Shab-E-Firaq" should have been incorporated in the end titles. Off-late the critics are have invented positive statements like "leave your mind at home and enjoy the comedy" which actually means "mindless comedy". Chup Chup Ke luckily escapes this category and scores above Phir Hera Pheri.The comedy track is in right proportion and blends seamlessly with the backbone of the story. Finally what was Sushma Reddy thinking when she signed the dotted line?

Being a Priyadarshan movie, everybody must have expected a comedy caper. Even i thought it was a comedy movie until the end when there was no 'hungama' with all the actors running around. Priya's trademark style.The film was okish. The story was decent. But for a Drama subject, i don't see why there were so many unwanted characters. It makes one confused at some point in the movie.The performance were okish by everyone except Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav who were outstanding as always. Shahid Kapoor has a long way before being called a good actor. Kareena Kapoor had a surprisingly small role which she surprisingly performed well enough and she looked very cute and......reddish. Neha Dupia was good too.Catch this on a DVD and watch it with family. Its a clean movie.

The good news is that Kareena Kapoor doesn't talk in this film The bad news is that everyone else does… the problem is that they don't just talk but shout, scream, shriek, screech and yell. Chup Chup Ke continues Priyadarshan's stint with loud comedies. The good news is that this Priyadarshani film has a story to narrate (unlike Garam Masala). The bad news is that this time again the story is a Hindi adaptation of a Malayalam film named Punjabi House (unlike Malamaal Weekly that was his only original Hindi attempt) However the story is interesting enough. Jeetu (Shahid Kapoor) is drenched in debts that he is unable to payback. So he attempts suicide by jumping in the sea only to be caught in the net of fisherman Bandya (Rajpal Yadav). Bandya's master Gundya (Paresh Rawal) in turn has taken heavy loans from Prabhat Singh Chauhan (Om Puri). As a loan security, Gundya keeps Jeetu as a deposit at Chauhan's house, who fakes to be a mute and deaf guy. Chauhan's niece Shruti (Kareena Kapoor) who is actually mute falls for Jeetu. Confusion seeps in the story when Jeetu's ex-fiancé Pooja (Sushma Reddy) comes into picture. The good news is that Priyadarshan's brand of humor is not as bland or slapstick as David Dhawan's recent films. The bad news is that it's not as credible or tongue-in-cheek as a Hrishikesh Mukherjee or a Basu Chatterjee film, either. The movie starts with a bang getting straight to the point. The director doesn't waste time in establishment of the characters. Right from the first scene, the story of the film keeps moving ahead, thereby keeping your interest alive. Priyadarshan doesn't experiment with the treatment of humor though, going on with his trademark style of comedy. The characters play out loud and to the gallery. Another problem with the Priyadarshan brand of comedy is that he stretches the humor in a scene a bit too much and doesn't know where to stop, thereby making it repetitive and monotonous at times. However thanks to some well-written scenes and Neeraj Vora's dependable funny one-liners that range from the witty to the corny ones, the film does succeed in making you laugh. One more bone of contention is that the genre of the film is not just focused at being a comedy. That lasts for the first two hours after which the genre shifts towards drama. After a good dose of laughter in the first half, you don't feel like changing moods with the subsequent on screen emotional outbursts. And while Priyadarshan handles the comic portions of the film in a larger-than-life manner, his treatment of emotions is very much natural. (Not many might remember Priyadarshan as the director of touching emotional films like Gardish, Virasat and Sazae Kala Paani much before he molded himself as a comedy specialist). Conversely, how one wishes it were just the opposite in this film i.e. the comedy to be more natural while one could overlook the heavier side with some passable artificial emotions. The fluctuating genres very much remind of Priyadarshan's Hulchul that too turned intense in the last one hour. Moreover the family setting and characterizations of Suniel Shetty and Kareena Kapoor seems to be directly derived from Hulchul. Priyadarshan has a standard team of actors like Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Om Puri, Asrani, Manoj Joshi and Suniel Shetty with whom he extracts fine work. Paresh Rawal is getting repetitive though you love to see him repeat the act. From being a serious actor, Om Puri has already made a transition into the comedy arena with élan. Rajpal Yadav yet again goes over the top, but somehow in this film, this actor steals the show amongst others thanks to the best scenes and lines that he gets. His timing and expressions add to the effect.Like his team of actors, Priyadarshan also has a standard team of technicians in his film like cinematographer Tirru and art director Sabu Cyril. Sabu repeats the typical pillars-in-the-garden set design for the song sequences. The white color in costume designs is consistently maintained throughout the film to impart a pure look to the frames. The good news is that Himesh Reshammiya composes the music of this film. The bad news (for some) is that he even sings some of the tracks here. Amongst other actors, Shahid is quite efficient. Kareena looks gorgeous and since she doesn't have to mouth a single line in the entire film (not even in a dream sequence), you are saved by her otherwise over-expressive dialogue delivery skills. In fact Neha Dhupia gets more scope and she makes the best use of it. Sushma Reddy is restricted only to some 4-5 scenes. Suniel Shetty is getting typecast in these kinds of roles playing the aggressive and protective brother. Soon he might become a substitute for Jackie Shroff. Overall, Chup Chup Ke isn't as silent as the title suggests. However despite it's loose (or loud) ends, it still manages to be a good family entertainer.