Chillar Party : Kar di meri tai tai phish!
Rating:Review by Smita
Its pouring great movies this monsoon. Chillar Party is the rainbow in the sky this weekend. The movie makes you whoop with laughter, cry quietly into your tissue and feel a surge of pride at the achievement of the kids. Here is a movie that talks to kids and adults alike, and gives us the real kids of today-slightly impetuous, very smart but at heart innocent and believing in the goodness of the world.
The story is set in a typical housing society where a young kid comes with his dog to live and wash cars for a living. After a bit of tension with the resident gang of boys who dont like dogs because a dog in the colony shits on their cricket pitch, the boys become friends with the car cleaner (Appropriately called Fatka) and his dog Bhidu. The problem arises when a local politician initiates a campaign to rid the city of stray dogs and targets Bhidu since he attacked the politicians secretary while defending Phadka. How the kids take on the mighty politician forms the meat of the story.
The movie takes a while to reach the main premise (nearly towards the interval) but the time is well used to set up the story and embed the Chillar gang in our minds. Each child in the cast is a character true to his name whether it is the very cute Jangiya who hates wearing underwear or Silencer who never speaks or Encyclopedia who calls himself the mastermind of the gang. The adults who play parents and the other members of the housing society also pitch in their best to give us a feeling of a large disjointed but not disconnected family. Let me not forget the real star of the movie, Bhidu who plays a real dog and is not like the irritating pooches we see in the Barjatya movies. His acting is natural and in keeping with the true nature of the movie.
The storytelling is swift and the screenplay crackling either with one liners or emotionally charged scenes.
The movie stays on the fringes of child labour. Fatka is a child labourer but as one of the kids says Fatka has no parents. If he does not work what will he eat? It is a bigger debate that thankfully the movie does not get into here but it still lingers on in our mind and the movie brings it back into your consciousness with small deft touches as when they show the childrens jumping feet and you see one pair of feet jumping in oversized flip flops in a sea of school shoes. A lump in the throat moment for sure. This is the kinds of stuff that makes this movie so much better than Stanley ka Dabba which seems ponderous in comparison.
The music is fantastic. Mohit Chauhans voice in Chatte Batte is haunting. I think it will have the same nostalgic effect on adults as Purani Jeans had at one time.
Ranveer Kapoors item number Tai tai phish comes right at the end of the credits and you have to really hang around to watch it or else you will miss a fantastically done tapori number. Amir Khan please take note: Hip shakes and crotch thrusts are best left to youngsters. The excitement in the kids while watching this number is palpable and you walk out dancing on air. The other reason not to miss the credits is the out takes taken while the movie was being shot. Charming shots of the kids while at the shoot which are happily not much different from how they are shown in the movie.
Go now for this movie. Chillar party is like a walk in the clouds, soft and fluffy but heavy with the promise of rain.
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