I am a self-confessed lover of Hindi Cinema, regardless of its inconsistent quality. I sat down to watch CHUPKE SE, reminding myself that I was not watching it to enjoy the film, but to enjoy the fact that I love to watch every Hindi film that I can get my hands on. But the film caught me a little bit by surprise.
First of all as the credits rolled, I saw Gulzar's name as the lyricist and I thought to myself, at least the songs would be bearable. But as it went on, the film as well as the female protagonist, Masumi seemed increasingly appealing. The plot of the film is nothing unusual, but that is a good thing when it comes to romantic comedies, because you want to enjoy the romance and the comedy and not mysterious plot twists. But the screenplay by director Urvashi and lyricist Tyrewala is very refreshing and makes for a lot sweet and hilarious moments in the film.
Masumi has a lot of the girl-next-door charm and it works quite well with the beauty contestant angle of the film. She doesn't overact for any starry effect or try to stretch her performance beyond her limitations. A very nice debut I must say. But I fear that she will be relegated to playing the "heroine's friend" in future because Bollywood has limited space for a girl with charm, intelligence and ability, but no oomph or natural flair for dumb melodrama. Zulfi Syed has a very one-dimensional character but one that complements Masumi's and to his credit he plays it as straight as it is written.
The refreshing elements are the supporting cast headed by Om Puri and Rati, both of whom have a lot of funny material to work with and you can see them enjoying the weirdos that they play thoroughly. Om Puri in recent years has used certain mainstream films to highlight his wonderful comedic timing and sense of humor. CHACHI 420 and AAPKO PEHLE BHI KAHIN DEKHA HAI come to mind. And Rati has for the first time given a noteworthy performance since she actively started working again. There are some other decent bit parts done by Tinnu Anand, Reema Lagoo, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Anupam Shyam.
Vishal Bharadwaj and Ranjit Barot with the help of Gulzar and Abbas Tyrewala create half a dozen good tracks that fit nicely with the energy and feel of the film and blend in with the plot as well.
All in all, CHUPKE SE is an enjoyable film that works for the simple reason that you care about Masumi and Zulfi in the film and so even though it is pre-determined, you want to see them together at the end. 7/10.
