CAST: Amitabh Bachchan, Emraan Hashmi Raghuvir Yadav, Annu Kapoor, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Krystal D’souza, Rhea Chakraborty, Siddhant Kapoor
DIRECTOR: Rumy Jaffery
BLUF:
Four retired veterans of the law play a serious game nestled in the home of a Judge in the snow-clad valleys of a hill resort a few hundred miles from Delhi. The judge (Chatterjee), a prosecutor (Bachchan), a defense lawyer (Kapoor), and a hangman (Yadav), are friends who execute mock trials with strangers who lose their way in the mountains, which is a situation they maneuver themselves by placing confusing directions to Delhi on the snow-clad roads. They welcome these lost strangers into the home to amuse themselves and assume that the strangers are guilty of something. They decide on their own what the crime could have been. Which it itself, is a strange premise, but nevertheless here is the bottom line upfront. And yes, the young girl (Rhea Chakraborty) serves as household help. Siddhant Kapoor is the speech-challenged houseman.
THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES
Emraan Hashmi is the guest who faces the mock trial in this case. He is an advertising biggie who has lost his way. Reluctant to indulge the old people at first, he decides to deridingly be a part of their game. Falling into traps of his own making, he reveals skeletons in his closet leading to his guilt of a crime being revealed.
Chehre aims to oscillate between statements on the state of India’s justice system and morality in so much so that Mr. Bachchan’s character becomes the bleeding deacon of the story.
IN THE KNOW/FWAR
Basing itself on preaching to the world about its justice system, this movie is heavily inspired by the 1956 novel, Die Panne by Friedrich Durrenmatt, this Bollywood film is a thriller is a conversational movie.
This book has also inspired a very successful Marathi play by Vijay Tendulkar.
However, it is the execution here is bereft of soul.
Conversations drive this film. It is a delight watching classic actors like Kapoor, Yadav and Bachchan effortlessly tackle long Hindi dialogues and post-modern couplets.
That is the thing about conversation-led movies; they have to depend a lot upon the pace, the structure, the content of the conversations, and special stand-out moments.
In this narrative, even with good writing and stellar actors, the execution fails. The pace made viewers restless.
The director depended very heavily upon Bachchan and had reserved an extraordinarily heavy arduous monologue for him to recite. But even that fails to deliver the impact.
Tackling issues of rape, trauma, justice, marital violence with shallow depth do not work well to establish the credibility of the plot.
Some scenes between Emran Hashmi and Amitabh Bachchan are stellar enough to send electricity through the atmosphere but not enough to drag the story to its rightful conclusion.
Conversation-heavy films, by themselves, don’t always become humdrum. Waking Life where Richard Linklater presents a stunning film. Along with the impressive visual style, it unveils a diverse group of thinkers discussing weighty topics of life, death, and beyond.
In Medicine for Melancholy (2008), the romance from Barry Jenkins presents a momentous day for Micah (Wyatt Cenac) and Jo (Tracey Higgins) after a one-night stand. They wander around the charming streets of San Francisco and chat about race, politics, and relationships in the process
In this context, we cannot but mention Noah Baumbach’s (Greenberg) debut film, Kicking and Screaming (1995) which illustrates a group of intellectuals struggling to find their way after graduation with the conversation aided by dry humor.
Annie Hall (1977) from Woody Allen is another such masterpiece as it provides an excellent structure, clever dialogue, and plenty of stand-out moments, in the conversation. Then of course the classic Before Sunrise must be a top contender in this space because of the effort confronted by Celine and Jesse to figure out what it means to be an adult while trying to revive their romantic idealism.
In Chehre, the structure of the movie suffers because of the moral ground writing, very less clever screenplay, and rare stand-out moments. So much so that it becomes less entertaining.
The cinematography by Binod Pradhan is fabulous, and the art decoration is also great However it faulters in the CGI department. Some scenes created using computer graphics fail the quality test. (The fall in the ravine was like the product of an amateur graphics learner)
Hashmi, who we have seen evolve from being a serial kisser to one hell of a Midas is brilliant in parts he has the control. We wish someone would use him for the talent he is.
Yadav is splendid and Anu Kapoor is matchless. Yet, it is Mr. Bachchan who is given to carry the heavy parts. Kapoor doesn’t do much except flash some teeth.
Chatterjee is impressive and Chakraborty does a good job. Krystal D’Souza has a limited plastic role and
Wish the execution accomplished justice for the actors.
WHAT WE LOVED
HASHMI -BACHCHAN scenes
Premise of story
WHAT WE MISSED
Execution
SFX
