REVIEW: ‘Chashme Baddoor’ – Lacks Charm And Chamak

The screenplay for David Dhawan’s 'Chashme Baddoor' is so unlike the original, that the 2013 version does it self no favours by announcing its official remake status.

The screenplay for David Dhawan’s ‘Chashme Baddoor’ is so unlike the original, that the 2013 version does it self no favours by announcing its official remake status. Fans of the original will recall and quote back lines to you about Chamko washing powder, tutti-frutti, scenes of towels failing to conceal suggestive posters etc.

In 2013, these gems are missing, except Chamko which appears almost towards the end in a new track. Landlady Josephine (Lillete Dubey) demonstrates the merits of the foaming powder to café owner Joseph (Rishi Kapoor).

So, Sid (Ali Zafar), Omi (Divyendu Sharma) and Jai (Siddharth) are room-mates in Goa. The first is the most serious of the trio; the other two are wastrels who will chase anything in a skirt. Omi is constantly speaking in bad couplets while Jai is a movie obsessed rogue. They are skint and in debt to bar owner Joseph as well as to their landlady Josephine.

A 100 or so kilometers away, Seema (Tapsee Pannu) jumps on her moped and runs away from her army father’s Sawantwadi home in order to avoid an arranged marriage. She drives straight to her uncle’s home in Goa. Her father and uncle are twins, played by Anupam Kher. The purpose of this side-plot – inexplicable!

Omi and Jai spot Seema and enter a contest to see who succeeds in wooing her. Both fail but lie about the result, using ‘flashback’. Sid, unbeknownst to his friends or himself, falls in love with the same Seema. When Omi and Jai find out, they connive to break Seema and Sid up.

All these antics are presented in David Dhawan style – loud, a riot of colours, juvenile humour laced together by Farhad-Sajid’s brand of dialogues – puns and too much obeisance to cinema.

As for the actors, Sharma is the only actor who shows spark and is quite a delight. Pannu has none of the charisma or cuteness to convince you that four men might be interested in her. Zafar is more concerned about he how looks than emoting, while Siddharth hams his way through. But then to give credit to the actors, they are working with lowbrow material and compensate for it with zeal and physicality, never once looking like they don’t belong.

The side-plots are irrelevant and hamper the story which might have been more enjoyable if the focus had been – as in the original – on the bromance as much as the romance. Though there are a few funny moments, the film lacks the charm and chamak of the original.

Rating: **

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Udita Jhunjhunwala

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