Chalo Dilli Hindi Movie
Hindi cinema hasn't shown much inclination in the past on road movies. The fewer ones that came by didn't quite make a mark. And the latest one to take a plunge into it is former Miss Universe and now Mrs. Bhupati, Lara Dutta. With a simple story in hand, Lara under an amusing banner name Bheegi Basanti tries establishing a likable situational comedy. Whether her road movie reaches its destination or not remains to be seen.
Chalo Dilli is centered on a dynamic business woman Mihika Mukherjee (Lara Dutta) who is very hoity-toity. She doesn't respect the little things in life, suffers an obsessive compulsive disorder for cleanliness and is very condescending. Mihika has to reach Delhi to her husband Vikram (Akshay Kumar) but her flight lands in Jaipur instead of Delhi due to technical problems. So she decides on other means of transport to reach her destination - but the only glitch is the glitches that she keeps encountering on her way; more so, courtesy her co-passenger Manu Gupta (Vinay Pathak), whom she calls bhaisaab. But how by the end of the journey she sheds her inhibitions and becomes a better person is what forms the rest of the story.
Inspired by Steve Martin starrer Hollywood comedy Planes, Trains & Automobile Chalo Dilli takes a topic unexplored in the past. Being a road movie the film has a simple story purely about the journey that the lead characters take. Owing to which, director Shashant Shah relies heavily on the narrative, the situations and the characterization. However, though pleasant initially, the numerous situations that the characters encounter get tad stretched, predictable and monotonous. Even the climax is extremely lengthy and could've been edited.
The film only rides high on Vinay Pathak's shoulder. His character of a Ladies Dress Material Salesman who is never short of advice, conversation, cheap jokes or company, is very likable. Lara Dutta though fit in her part gets overshadowed by Vinay's brilliance. Yana Gupta's item number appears needless in the film. It could've easily been used only for promotional purposes.
On the whole, Chalo Dilli doesn't quite reach its destiny. The films works only in parts.
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