FOUR TO TANGLE
Chaalis Chauraasi is the kind of the film that gets made because a film has to be made. Finance has been organised, enough to sign up good actors, not stars. There is an idea—maybe even a script—that looks good on paper. Comedy usually goes down well with audiences. At least three of the four lead actors have enough fans between them to ensure that shows don’t get cancelled on day one, because nobody bought a ticket.
TAKE A BREAK SIR!
Who'd have thought a day would come when serious actors of the highest calibre would be seen doing the slow-mo walk in crisp police attire stylishly putting one foot before the next, evoking a chuckle of approval? A motif straight out of a hardcore commercial film becomes a rare rousing moment in a confused comic caper, barely rescued by the sheer weight of the talent on display. There isn't a better bunch of actors in contemporary Hindi cinema than seen in Hriday Shetty's Chaalis Chauraasi. So much the worse, because Shetty and his script writers can do no justice to the ammunition at hand.
One hadn't much hope to begin with, given that Shetty (whose brother Rohit is now a famous if patchy director of potboilers chiefly starring Ajay Devgan) once got Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia together in a film with a delectable premise and predictably lacklustre treatment called Pyaar Mein Twist. There too, it was up to the star chemistry to elevate the drama above its inherent mediocrity.
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