Movie review: Chennai Express - Just laugh

So finally I watched Chennai Express in a full packed cinema in Hamburg where most of the audience was Indian. Which doubled the fun with all the cheering, whistling and clapping moments.

After all the hype and the couple of reviews I read here´s now my two cents:

This time we see Shah Rukh Khan in a different Avatar, again he is Rahul (naam toh suna hoga), but this Rahul is a 40 year old Halwai wallah (a confectioner) who is still single but ready to mingle.

After the death of his grandfather, he´s all set to get to Goa for some fun with his friends, though his grandmother requests him to take the ashes of his grandfather to Rameshwaram, one of the holiest places in India.

He just decides to fool his grandmother, telling her that he goes by train to south with the ashes, just to get off at the next station where his friends are waiting for him.

But then, parodying the train scene from Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, SRK helps board the damsel in distress Deepika Padokone (Meenamaa) and the big sized goons
who are following her, which was hysterically funny and gave a good taste of what we could expect from the movie.

Meenamaa Az.....Sundaram  is running away from her father, the local Don of Komban, a village in south India, who wants to
marry her off to another goon to increase his power!

How Rahul get´s into the mess and helps Meena to escape, that´s the plot in short.

There´s a lot of Tamil spoken in the film, which I enjoyed a lot and since I also watch Tamil films I was able to hear the difference between Hindi and Tamil, which made it even more funny, like the little fun words from Shah Rukh ( “my seat-am”).

The sing song dialogues in Hindi were hilarious, when Rahul and Meena want to communicate without the suspicion of the only Tamil speaking goons.

All the references and parodies of other Shah Rukh movies made you laugh or at least grin and you can take it as a dig to his previous films and this one doesn´t even stop making fun of his actor.

When he spreads his arms in a song, you know you´re back into the good old romance mood and he´s still the king of it. ;)

Yet the comedy in it prevails and that is good. Yes, it is funny, a bit silly, kid friendly and predictable.

 I have to admit that I was a little worried, because of the Indian humour but luckily it didn´t turned into a slapstick comedy with vulgar jokes and Shah Rukh proved that he has quite a comedy timing.

He doesn´t have the physical presence of a south Indian hero but that´s not needed, because he´s like an underdog who show´s everyone that he has a stronger character and body than expected.

It´s not a new SRK but his histrionics and overacting is what the movie needs.

When it comes to Deepika´s performance I must say that she did really well. But I don´t know why everyone is praising this as her best performance ´til date and that she is carrying the film on her shoulders. She had couple of good scenes indeed and she looked wonderful too but it wasn´t an outstanding neither a  new performance for me. Some overacting was there too and the Meena-kicking-demon scene wasn´t mine at all.

The film lives of the interaction between her and SRK and they complemented each other well.

Vishal-Shekar created good songs which were beautifully shot. South actress Priyamani was looking stunning in “One, two, three, four (get on the dance floor)”, and I loved her dance. Even Shah Rukh did quite well in that fast south song. 

Deepika looked beautiful in "Titli" which was very colourful and "Tera Rasta Mein Chhodoon Na" gave us that typical indian Saree and hair in the wind feeling. :)

I loved the Kerala Katakali dance theme in “Kahmir main, tu Kanyakumari” despite the critics that it´s not a tamil dance and where does the Kerala stuff come from? Seriously?? But dream sequences in the swiss alps do always fit, right?  :/

When it comes to the “Lungi dance” song at the end credits I would like to ask, who else would do a tribute song to one, if not the biggest Star in India “Rajnikanth” also called “Thalaivaa” (Leader/ boss) in Tamil, than Shah Rukh?

The audience was enjoying it thoroughly and some of them even sang along the “Thalaivaa” part.

The scenic attractions in the movie were beautiful though I would have loved to see more breathtaking landscapes from the south.  

Sets were colourful, so were the costumes, most of all the south Indian Sarees.

I was surprised that in some reviews so many things were criticized, like.. why is Meena wearing half-Sarees instead of a simple Salwaar, why the big south accent when she talks Hindi…etc.

But let me say.. ..I watched so many south movies and even there the heroines are wearing half-Sarees, then why not here too? And I saw stupid jokes and comedy there too.

Then why so over critical?

Because it´s a SRK film? Because north is making fun of the south or even copying it?

Yes, ethnic humor is delicate to balance but maybe south Indians should lighten up a bit.

I just can say, don´t take it too serious.

Any bad points?

Yes, the fighting scene at the end could have been shorter, though I´m used to such south Indian super hero fights and nevertheless the action was well done.

The message at the end was a bit predictable but had a good point with the hint of India´s Independence and women still treated like property.

Deepika´s on and off Tamil accented Hindi.

Product placement was quite intrusive.

The big make up wasn´t needed on Shah Rukh´s face at all. Some more wrinkles would have made him even more authentic.  

Some scenes could have been cut out, like this small man in the forest thing. What was that??

But after all. Way to go.

I think Rohit Shetty created a film in his style, which isn´t a new one but well…  don´t analyze, just laugh yaar!

Not every movie is meant to be an art film or needs a big message.

This one is what cinema is made for:  Pure (family) entertainment.

Rating:  ★★★★


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