Review: 'Char Din Ki Chandni'

Film: Char Din Ki Chandni
Director: Samir Karnik
Cast: Tusshar Kapoor, Kuljeet Randhawa, Anupan Kher, Om Puri,
Rating: ½ a star

Disclaimer: Carry own earmuffs and shades when stepping in to watch Char Din Ki Chandni. It gets louder and brighter by the scene.

Director Samir Karnik’s Yamla Pagla Deewana last year was a laugh fest. He tries hard to recreate the magic with Char Din Ki Chandni this time. Going by Karnik’s formula, it’s child’s play to make a Bollywood film. All you need is:

1)      A big, fat, Indian wedding (add “royal” to the big and fat) as the principle premise
2)      Exceptionally large families, with each member having distinct traits (mind you nobody can be normal, that’s not allowed)
3)      A homosexual character, a butt for forced laughs (they can play designer/wedding planner. Dare they’re cast as anybody else)
4)      A love story, where one of the parents will be against the match

Karnik shamelessly employs clichés, shakes them all up and serves Char Din Ki Chandni as an insipid drama, a rubber band story idea, so stretched it’s wretched.

The action takes places at a palace in Jodhpur, where Rajputs take pride in their heritage and the every second word they utter is “royal”. Head of the family CV Singh (Anupam Kher) blabbers his way through the film, threatening to strike with his sword for no satisfactory reason. His wife Divya (Anita Raj) is pretty, refined and less eccentric (only character who speaks, and does not yell).

There’s a sex-crazed daughter who is about to be married and sons that range from a drunk (Chandrachur Singh), a pervert (Mukul Dev), an anti-social (Sushant Singh) to a London-educated Veer (Tusshar Kapoor), willing to challenge traditions.

Veer returns to attend his sister’s wedding in Jodhpur with girlfriend Chandni (Kuljeet Randhawa). Scared of his staunch Rajput father, Veer lies to the family about Chandni being a journalist wanting to cover an Indian wedding. One after another, Veer finds himself ties himself up in knots of lies. Meanwhile, Chandni has own hearts of every male in the royal family. CV Singh pledges to get her married while his sons dream of getting married to Chandni. There’s also a spy mama, Lt Shaitan Singh (Rahul Singh) always sniffing trouble, getting plastered over in the process.

Add to this disaster, Chandni’s parents (Om Puri and Farida Jalal), who land up in Jodhpur to add to Veer’s dismay. Phew!
In the second half, Tusshar turns into a thunderous Pappi Sardar, one of the many lies he’s caught up in.

There isn’t much of anything close to an interesting screenplay. The jokes fall flat and all that remains is noise, lots of it. The director’s brief seems pretty clear — “Talk as loudly as you can and we can all look funny. That way they’ll get confused and laugh anyway”.  Sorry boss. Doesn’t work. Irritates and is off-putting. Add to all this, gaudy sets, costumes, unnecessary twists, Tusshar Kapoor.

All Sridevi-Rishi Kapoor fans are sure to pick up some abuses hurled by the characters and fling them back for soiling the sanctity of the song Chandni O Meri Chandni from the 1989 film Chandni.

As mentioned before, Anita Raj is closest to likeable, closely followed by Kuljeet, who’s bubbly and refreshing. Both are bound by the limits in the script, and director Karnik is to blame for this.
When you have seasoned actors like Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Farida Jalal in the same frame, wonder how one can go wrong? Even the talented Sushant Singh and Rahul are wasted in miniscule roles. You will see on screen Johnny Lever after very long, but happiness we got seeing him in his heyday cannot be guaranteed.

Peace lovers and everybody else, avoid at all costs. Save yourself the horror.