Cheeni Kum

I think this is truly a marvelous film. Very well scripted, and even more wonderfully enacted. Amitabh is truly the King of Hindi movies, you just have to watch him in those suits and Tabu has come of age as a seasoned actress, Paresh Rawal is OK.

An unusual story depicted with very realistic situations and laced with light-hearted humour. Oh the movie has some really witty dialogues too.

The cutest bits are the scenes between Amitabh and Zohra Sehgal (who plays his mom in the movie). Another highlight is the role played by the child actor aptly named sexy, who is very witty and worldly wise.

I think the bottom line of the movie is that girls mature faster than men do and thus age should really not be a bar when one looks for a life-partner.

After a long time,(for Hindi movie-goers) one gets to see a movie and say Ya! that was a NICE movie. And definitely worth a second watch.

The title exactly sums sums up the film. Yes, it is not too sugarcoated but it has does not have much taste either. While the movie is appealing and a delight to watch in the first half and slowly seems to change track in the second half, things get a little too messy in the last third after Buddha goes to India to meet Neena's father. The first half works as a romantic comedy where Balki introduces the love story of the two interesting protagonists, Buddha (Amitabh Bachchan) and Neena (Tabu) There are some very funny feel good scenes. The comedy between Amitabh and Tabu works well and Zohra Sehgal is absolutely hilarious. Once Buddha lands in India things go haywire. Was the screenwriter suffering from writer's block and pressured to meet a deadline? Did he not find any other way to get Neena's father to accept the proposal or for Buddha to finally manage to convince Mr. Verma without showing all that forced melodrama? Tabu is charming and has amazing screen presence but her character isn't exactly well-written as a result of which her performance suffers. In the last third she is barely given importance. This is among her weakest performances but in all fairness to her, the script does not give her enough scope to make the character more appealing. Amitabh Bachchan returns to his angry man mode (again) and he severely hams at many scenes. Zohra Sehgal is a delight to watch and Swini Khara is wooden (her voice sounds a little monotonous but her non-verbal expressions are good at times) Why did the writer choose to give a little girl a nickname like 'Sexy' (forced humour?)?. Paresh Rawal gives a forgettable performance. In addition to that, there are some very passable songs (but nothing great) and the locations are nice to look at. Anyway, 'Cheeni Kum' mainly suffers because of bad writing and poor direction. I wouldn't want to watch it again.

At the point in this romantic comedy where they are definitely getting interested in each other, Amitabh Bachchan and Tabu are sitting on a bench in a park in London, and she tells him animatedly to run to a tree across a meadow and touch it and run back. It's the kind of thing you tell a little boy to do -- a brilliant touch that captures so much of what's good about the movie: their fresh dynamic, her self-possessedness, his readiness, if reluctant, to step out of a somewhat ossified "grownup" character. I think you'd be sorry if you missed this, supposing you had a way of finding out what you'd missed.

I don't think light romantic comedy is easy to do - at all - and this movie does it very well -- there's not a sloppy or wince-inducing moment . Moreover there's the pleasure of a love story between grownup characters, an especially rare pleasure. Tabu and AB are really good together - it's nice to see them both matched in terms of their size, for one thing, and Tabu emanates the kind of intelligent, self-confident, unsentimental, serious young woman who often is happiest with an older man -- like Jo in Little Women.

Story takes place in both London and Delhi, which is fun. As everyone who's seen the previews knows, AB is an irritable and perfectionistic chef of 64 who owns a very successful restaurant, realistically filmed and with a pleasing cast of comic minor characters. He meets Tabu, a 34 year old visitor from India, via a character-establishing quarrel when she sends back a dish. And eventually there's her father in Delhi to deal with.

AB lives with his 90-year-old mother (Zora Seghal, she's the grandmother in most movies) and one of the great things about the movie is their totally mutually insulting relationship -- she is a horrible cook and he is very mean and funny about it; she watches wrestling and Sex and the City or something on TV all day and nags him to go to a gym. This is delightful in an Indian movie, as relief from the standard Mataji of the brimming-over compassionate gaze -- and we also unexpectedly see his deep reliance on her, and her availability, when something very distressing happens to him.

Alongside the AB-Tabu story is the story of AB's relationship with a little girl next door who has leukemia. She gives him advice and he promises her the "adult dvds" she wants to watch. And the scene where he goes into the video store and demands "adult dvds that are suitable for small children" is the kind of thing this movie excels at.

The presence in the story of people of all ages, from little girl to 90-year-old Mother, as well as Tabu's father who is younger than AB and thinks of himself as elderly (and carries on to AB about how AB is so-lucky to have been "old enough to see Gandhi-ji") -- all of them written as anti-stereotypes -- makes a very nice philsophical background score about life, love, and mortality.

I like the actual music a lot too - no "singing" by characters, but some nice scored passages that won't leave you, if Bollywood is your home, feeling exiled.

I watched this immediately after jhoom barabar jhoom, and was very glad I did. JBJ was an AWFUL pile of bakvaas, and Amitabh's appearances in that movie were pointless and embarrassing (why was he trying to look like Stevie Ray Vaughan?) Cheeni kum was a very good movie. A little slower than it could have been, and maybe Amitabh's character was a little bit TOO "cheeni kum", but overall it was an intelligent and well put together film. There were several things not done as well as they could have been, including the shameful underutilization of Paresh Rawal, but overall this was a good try. It was certainly one of Amitabh's better roles of the last couple of years. Zohra was outstanding as was Swini Kehra, and the film examined the central issue well. Almost as well as the outstanding Dil Chahta Hai. After KJo cr*p like KANK, SLB's bloated rubbish (Black, Devdas) and the David Dhawan conveyor belt of pathetically unfunny "comedies", films like Cheeni Kum restore my faith in Hindi cinema. The central jodi was very plausible, and Tabu's character gave as good as she got, except for the scene at the restaurant with the fish (where her capitulation seemed out of character). I just wish that was at least one Cheeni Kum for every Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Plus I want to see more of Zohra before she leaves us, and more of the excellent Swini.

I am sure all of you would have got a fair idea about the movie by now. And also judged the strengths and weaknesses as well.

I am not too sure if Cheeni Kum is the first Bollywood movie which fits into this genre of "Sarcastic Comedy", but definitely there could be many more to follow. With the ad-man at the helm of affairs, its no wonder that every line of the movie seems to have been written by a copywriter.

Amitabh and Tabu share a great chemistry and for once you wonder if you have been focusing on Tabu's performance than Big B. Having said that Big B makes you wonder how can he still manage to look sexy at 64. Zohra Sehgal - every time she comes on the screen, you are ready for the next dose. Fanstastic performance indeed and the same for the little girl "Sexy" who gets one of the best lines in the movie. Paresh Rawal - after a long-long time you wonder how did he go wrong this time. Clearly there is big lacunae, wonder if its the script that is to be blamed. Rest of the star-cast do a perfect cog in the wheel.

Be it sunny and rainy side of London or the cool breeze of New Delhi - P C Sriram managed to capture all the seasons equal ease. Editing by Chandan Arora manages to keep the story crisp. Ilayaraja's music stays with you after the movie as well.

Having been to cinema with least expectations, I walked out of the hall with a single thought "Why can't Johar's & Chopra's make a delicacy like this?". On a parting note, Cheeni Kum seemed to have a a few similarities with DDLJ - different sensibilities though.