Get set for a zany ride, as you take your
Chennai Express movie ticket and watch Rohit Shetty deliver what he does, to
the best of his ability. This is a no-brainer, the first half packs in a lot of momentum. This crowd-pleaser pulls all stops, with amazing
action, hilarious comic scenes and loads of entertainment.
Apart from the lead pair and the Sikh policeman who speaks Tamil, all the other characters speaks in Tamil, with Meena (Deepika Padukone) acting as an interpreter 40 year old Rahul’s grandpa dies just short of 100 and his grandma asks him to
immerse his ashes in the sea off Rameshwaram. Rahul is in no mood to go to
Rameshwaram and conspires with his friends to go to Goa, but fate brings him on
a trip to Chennai Express, and the trip turns out to be longer than he expected.
Rahul meets Meena, at a time, when her four muscular cousins are getting her back home, after she did a vain attempt to run
away from her impending marriage to Thangaballi(Nikitin Dheer). Rahul is caught
in the game that the daughter decides to play on her dad Durgeshwar (Sathyaraj). The Sikh policeman helps Rahul escape but fate plays a nasty game again. He comes back and mocks Meena’s father, inviting his ire in the process. Meena and Rahul run away to a nearby village and fall in love. While Meena decides that they should elope, Rahul thinks that the only way to solve the problems is to confront it.
Chennai Express Movie Review – The technical aspects
The cinematography is splendid, the aerial shots by Dudley and the amazing scenic views of waterfalls and greenery take the cake. While Yunus Sajawal’s screenplay is good, the script by K.Subaash is no great shakes. It is the old wine in another refurbished, fancy bottle. Dialogues are delivered better but on paper, they do not really impress. In fact, some of the lines fall flat on the face. Director Rohit Shetty saves the day and ensures that Chennai Express does not derail at any point.
Plus Points
Rohit Shetty takes on Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, the landmark romance of Indian cinema, with aplomb and gives it his own funny twist. Some hilarious sequences in the first half and the adrenalin gushing climax raise the film above its level. Rohit Shetty, the engineer of this enterprise, throws in some cars and people in the air and gives people what they were looking fo
Minus points
Some of the dialogues do not appear funny. Going by one-liners, Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal series and his finest movie, All the Best, had the coolest lines. Sajid-Farhad may however get a few brownie points for being original with their lines, but some intentionally funny lines like the one in which SRK talks about mobile phone numbers being difficult to memorize, do not raise the laughs. There are some unnecessary scenes that could have been avoided like Shah Rukh Khan’s meeting with a dwarf-like man immediately after the interval.
Best Scenes of Chennai Express
1. Deepika Padukone’s nightmare scene where she steals the thunder off King Khan
2. Shah Rukh Khan giving a lift to Deepika Padukone and then her cousins, aboard the train
3. The climax scene, unforgiving and adrenalin pumping with Shah Rukh Khan at its intense best.
Performances in the film
Deepika Padukone compliments SRK and even manages
to overshadow him in some scenes especially the ‘nightmare scene’. Her over-the-top take on the accent and body
language stays with you even after you’re done with the film. The dialogue ‘Acha, Kahan se Kharidee Aisi
Baukwaas Dictionary’ has become a catchy
phrase.
Chennai Express has Shah Rukh Khan bouncing back in the game, his infectious humor and spontaneity is remarkable. He is at ease, delivering the lines in a goofy manner. He revels in self-deprecating humor. It is clear that no actor can play the lover-boy as Shah Rukh Khan; he shows that he is completely convicing and refreshing as Rahul, as he was 18 years ago. And of course, he is at the top of the game in the intensity-ridden scene when he fights Nikitin Dheer, during the climax.
Conclusion
One can say that all the
marketing machinery and Shah Rukh Khan’s omnipresence in the social media and
television to promote his film, has paid off !
Our rating – **** (Good)
Deepika Padukone compliments SRK and even manages
to overshadow him in some scenes especially the ‘nightmare scene’. Her over-the-top take on the accent and body
language stays with you even after you’re done with the film. The dialogue ‘Acha, Kahan se Kharidee Aisi
Baukwaas Dictionary’ has become a catchy phrase.
Chennai Express has Shah Rukh Khan bouncing back in the game, his infectious humor and spontaneity is remarkable. He is at ease, delivering the lines in a goofy manner. He revels in self-deprecating humor. It is clear that no actor can play the lover-boy as Shah Rukh Khan; he shows that he is completely convicing and refreshing as Rahul, as he was 18 years ago. And of course, he is at the top of the game in the intensity-ridden scene when he fights Nikitin Dheer, during the climax.
Conclusion
One can say that all the marketing machinery and Shah Rukh Khan’s omnipresence in the social media and
television to promote his film, has paid off !
Our rating – **** (Good)