Chennai Express

‘CHENNAI EXPRESS' is a distinctively daft action comedy!

It’s basically a typical Tamil film, characterized by wafer-thin, predictable plot, juvenile humor and overblown action sequences, only this time made in Bollywood. However, bearing in mind its unambiguous intention of formulaic buffoonery, it does succeed to a large extent in what it’d set out for.

The film is about 40 year old Rahul’s (Shahrukh Khan) accidental journey from Mumbai to Rameshwaram, and what commotion happens along the way as he falls in love with Meena (Deepika Padukone), daughter of a local don.

As the start credits roll, you notice that SRK lives up to his promise made in a recent tea ad, when Deepika Padukone’s name flashes before his. If this is the loosey-goosey attitude with which you go in for this film, without even remotely expecting anything reasonable, chances are you might end up being amused. Because everything this film delivers, is unabashedly conventional --- Boy meets a girl in trouble and tries to help, but situations get perplexed; Girl’s father is a big time goon king, to whom they lie, in order to save their ass; But things keep going wrong, and before they can realize, they’re in love; No prizes for guessing how it all ends. Then there’s the customary Rohit Shetty element in it, with imposingly implausible action, flying cars and even flying humans. The jokes are old and oft repeated. You definitely need to be in a pleasingly relaxed mood to bear a lot of them. The film’s canvas is grand and is visually pleasing too.

Honestly speaking, as a movie critic, there’s every reason to hate this flick. But then you think about what the makers intended to create and the audience they cater to, and you say to yourself, “What the heck! This really is critic-proof.” You waste your time when you incisively critique such cinema. All you need to do is, let people know what they must expect, and make a less strict opinion.

Of the performances, the leads are definitely the lifelines here. SRK puts in more energy than what he’s put in his last 3-4 movies put together. He reminds you of that SRK of the 90’s where he’d infuse spirit and vivacity into the dumbest of projects. Yes there’s more clowning on display than you’d prefer, but you’ve got to give it to him for all the life he stirs up. Although personally, I would like him to be a part of much more meaningful projects, Deepika Padukone is also very expressive, comfortably churning out dialogues in a peculiar Tamil accent. Not much can be said about the rest of the cast, except that they keep the circus going.

In all, it isn’t dull, but dumb, and will appeal to the fans of southern commercial cinema. Seekers of light, mindless weekend entertainment won't be disappointed. If you aren’t one of them, give it miss!