Chal Bhaag Hindi Movie
30 minutes into the film, a friend who was watching it with me tapped by hand and with a painful look on his face almost pleads, "Chal bhaagte hai" (Let's escape this). Of course I could not have left the film midway. As a reviewer it is my job to watch the entire film so that I can provide you, our reader, with proper insight. But as I look back at the film, that moment probably sums up the entire experience of watching Chal Bhaag.
Chal Bhaag is one more of the pseudo attempts at making a film about the underbelly of Delhi - the gangster, police and politician syndicate. So there are stupid goons, the gang-lords, corrupt policemen, lunatic politicians, loaded businessmen, the elections around the corner and the crime. The usual recipe. What it however does not have is a decent screenplay and a capable director.
At best Chal Bhaag is funny. Unintentionally of course! The writer, who has also cast himself as one of the leads, has come up with dialogues which must have taken a good deal of brainstorming. How else does one explain such hilarious lines? Too bad the situations were not comic. Add to that his unbearable acting.
It is such an uninspiring piece of job that even a usually fantastic Deepak Dobriyal looks intolerable. Yashpal Sharma is easily the only saving grace in the film. The rest are too caught up in trying to make sense out of the situations than actually put sense into their performance. Plus a shoddy job at the camera and edits - there is no way out for Chal Bhaag.
As a journalist I come across many aspiring filmmakers who spend years finding that one producer. Some of these are actually promising and have wonderful scripts. And yet they don't find one person who could fund their dreams. And yet there seem to be enough moneybags around to back ridiculous scripts and filmmakers with complete lack of discipline. My only fear is Chal Bhaag might just see one more enthusiastic new producer bidding adieu to the film industry- like scores of others do after funding a bad first film. This is one of the instances where I pity the producer more than I pity myself for having to go through such agony.
