Tuesday 28 February 2012

Chupke Chupke [1975]


Hrishikesh Mukherjee was one of the most loved makers of ‘Middle of the Road’ movies that appealed to and left impressions on a large proportion of viewers. He made a number of serious dramas as well as delightful comedies during his lifetime – Chupke Chupke, a remake of the immensely popular Bengali film Chhadmabeshi, remains to this day one of his most endearing and loved comedies. The plot deals with Parimal Tripathi (Dharmendra), a Professor of Botany, who’s got newly married to Sulekha Chaturvedi (Sharmila Tagore), enacting the role of a smart-ass chauffeur who speaks chaste Hindi while meeting Raghavendra, Sulekha’s brother-in-law (Om Prakash) who she is in awe of; meanwhile, Parimal’s friend Sukumar Sinha (Amitabh Bachchan), a Professor of English, is sent to the scene as Parimal, but things turn dicey when Sukumar tries to impress Vasudha (Jaya Bachchan), the sister-in-law of Prashant (Asrani), a common friend of Parimal and Sukumar, only to find out that she is a student of botany and hence would like to take lessons in botany from him. The interactions between Parimal and Raghavendra were hilarious, as were the misconceptions that arose among those in the dark as regards to this prank and the ensuing confusions. Keshto Mukherjee, too, provided some 'laughing out loud' moments with his drunken act. The acting was uniformly good, though it did become tad over-the-top on a few occasions. Further, the script stretched the practical joke more than it perhaps should have, as a result what was light-hearted humour for most parts started appearing on the meaner side (with respect to those on whom the pranks were being played) by the last leg of the film. On the whole, the film, interspersed with a few nice songs, was a really fun and entertaining watch.








Director: Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Genre: Comedy/Family Comedy/Urban Comedy
Language: Hindi
Country: India

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