Chashme Baddoor calls all Ali Zafar fans!

Two thumbs up for Zafar’s performance, thumbs down for David Dhawan’s remake.

KARACHI:

Not all remakes are successful, and Chashme Baddoor happens to be one of them.

A chaotic, colourful mess, the film is a remake of the 1981 classic hit of the same title (different spelling) directed by king of comedy David Dhawan, who has a reputation of remaking Hollywood and South Indian films. To remake an old Bollywood gem, it is crucial to do justice to the original — which Dhawan clearly failed to do. Still, if you are in for mindless entertainment and some genuine laugh-out-loud moments, this is the film to watch.

Director Sai Paranjpye’s 31-year-old film Chashme Buddoor (note spelling) starred veteran actors Farooq Shaikh and Deepti Naval in the lead roles with Rakesh Bedi and Ravi Baswani in the supporting roles. While the original bro-com film was a bagful of laughs with a story of three friends and the new girl on the block, followed by everything that happens when a boy meets a girl; the remake which follows the same plot, goes overboard with cheap jokes and double meaning dialogues, written by Sajid Farhad.



The movie begins with three cheesy friends living in Goa, two of which are struggling to strike gold in their careers — a flop poet Omi (Divyendu Sharma) and a miserable actor Jai (Siddharth Narayan). Besides their over-exaggerated stupidity and shameful acts, they also try their luck with girls, however they never succeed. The third friend Sid (Ali Zafar) is a physics student, shown as an innocent and respectful boy who is loved by everyone. Sooner than expected, Seema (Taapsee Pannu) moves into their neighbourhood after running away from a pathetic army officer father (Anupam Kher). After trying their cheap antics with Seema, the two friends back away while Sid accidentally meets her and their romance begins.

It was refreshing to see the South Indian actor Taapsee Pannu as the lead girl. She had a spark in her eyes and a bright smile throughout the film. But the film-makers definitely needed some weight and variety for the audience to stay in their seats for the story that was almost dragging to an end. Thankfully, there were other supporting characters like the legendary Rishi Kapoor as Mr Joseph, opposite the sexy LIlette Dubey in a romance of their own. Bharti Achrekar is brilliant as an obnoxious and controlling mother of twins (Anupam Kher).

While the lead role is a notch up in Pakistani singer and actor Ali Zafar’s career, the movie itself is less than average in terms of entertainment and experience. His acting skills were no different from any superstar in Bollywood, with a noticeably Indian tinge in his English dialogues. With his pretty-boy looks and Salman Khan-inspired no-shirt tricks, Ali is probably the only reason to watch the film.

The sound track was entertaining, with most songs in Ali’s voice and fun dance moves. The film made references to old songs, movies, veteran actors, army-civilian quarrels and terrorists. There were some hilarious moments, however most humorous lines were just word-play like: “Kamre me matlab camera me qaid ho jao”, “Ki gal hai, girl hai?” or “When you can’t change the girl; change the girl”.

Veteran actor Farooque Shaikh was right when he said people are often tempted to revisit something popular because you don’t need to put much effort into it.

Red Carpet

Ali Zafar’s Chashme Baddoor premiered at Atrium Mall in Karachi on April 4. To show support of their fellow Pakistani actor, numerous celebrities were spotted including actors Behroz Sabzwari, Mohib Mirza, Komal Rizvi, Hasan Rizvi and Danish Nawaz.

Verdict: If you want to see a Pakistani actor in a lead role in an Indian film, then do go watch Chashme Baddoor. It’s light, and the songs are brilliant!

Published in The Express Tribune, April 6^th, 2013.

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