Saturday, August 10, 2013

Movie Review - Chennai Express

The best part about this movie is that I had gone in with sub zero expectations, that it will end up blatantly using every other stereotype about tamilians/south Indians. The presence of Kathakali dancers had prepared me for 'sab south hai yaar' stereotype. Thank goodness that the movie did not resort to any such gimmick, and the kathakali was just a 5 second sequence in some song. You cannot feel let down with such low expectations, an exception being the movie 'Shaadi No. 1'.

The good thing was that the tamilian actors spoke in Tamil, and not Mehmood-ian Hindi. Having said that, sub titles for the Tamil portions were definitely required.

The only person actually speaking Mehmood-ian Hindi was Deepika, and it was atrocious. No, atrocious is an understatement, though it did improve towards the ending portions. Surprise, surprise, her Tamil lines were decently delivered (without dubbing). And yes, she did look gorgeous. Wonder why Karan Johar chose Alia Bhatt for playing the role of a tamilian girl in the movie adaptation of '2 states'. Deepika looks more intelligent, more like a Tamil girl, and can pull off Tamil lines too.

That apart, nothing exceptional about this movie. Typical Rohit Shetty-keep-your-brains-at-home timepass movie, with cars being blown up, ruffians being roughed up by an idealistic hero blah blah, and the aruval being added to the mix. The storyline was evident from the trailer itself, so no rocket science there. And some SRK PJs delivered by SRK himself.


The worst bit about the movie is the ending 'Lungi Dance': pathetic and unnecessary. Rather than being a tribute, it pokes fun of Rajini, saying things like 'moochon ko round ghumake', 'coconut mein lassi', which are 1) not characteristic of Rajini, 2) sound excessively stereotypical. What else could you expect from Honey Singh though? He gets lesser respect than Tusshar Kapoor, which is an achievement in itself.

On a parting note, has SRK joined some citizen's forum? During the course of the movie, he says : 'Never underestimate the power of the common man.' at least 240 times. 

5 comments:

niyatee said...

Very apt review bro :). We too r planning to watch it just for SRK

niyatee said...

Very apt review bro :). We too r planning to watch it just for SRK

Ganesh said...

Iyer ... vidu da ... anda padathuyum poi theatre la paathu avanuku revenue collection ku help pannara paathiya ... thats his success ...Advertisements la rendu type undu ... the ones that are good and the ones that are terrible .... "good" is tough to make becos u dont know what is 'good' in the people's eyes. Bad u easily know :) .... go to make an atrocious ad and everyone (in the name of talking ill of it), remember it ! Athe logic than ... ultimately he made u watch the movie in theatre by paying for it ... thats his success ...

Anonymous said...

Chennai Express is probably Rohit Shetty's best movie. I hate to say this but- Deepika has acted better than Shah Rukh. Must watch masala-action comedy.

Rahul said...

Chennai Express is probably Rohit Shetty's best movie. I hate to say this but- Deepika has acted better than Shah Rukh. Must watch masala-action comedy.