Here’s a pleasant surprise then— a film that’s fun without being flighty; and intelligent without weighing down the viewer.The promos establish the characters adequately. You have Mihika (Lara) who’s a corporate honcho and a sophisticate – the kind who hops country to country in high heels and finishes pending work on flights. A missed flight to Delhi causes her to travel to the destination by road, picking up a companion on the way. Manu Gupta (Vinay) is the obnoxious antithesis to Mihika with a profession selling saris and “ladies dress materials” at Karol Baugh.
And the viewer enjoys the journey as they hurtle into strange situations bringing out the delicious contrast of her control-freak nature and his care-a-damn attitude. The film has the two addressing each other as bhaisahab and behenji (to rule out any romantic angle). But their relationship graph is most interesting to watch—changing dynamics at each turn.
Chalo Dilli’s plot is simple and hardly path-breaking. Steve Martin’s Planes Trains & Automobiles (1987) had a similar story, as did Due Date and Bheja Fry to an extent. The film also has you thinking back to Jab We Met a couple of times. So what gives? It’s the fun on the run, coupled with marvellous performances.
Lara Dutta surprises you with her restrained and spot-on rendering of the well-heeled sophisticate. Vinay Pathak can be accused of repeating his Bheja Fry act, but still manages to make you laugh. Pathak fashions Manu to be obnoxious and lovable at the same time. And dexterous too, especially when it comes to slipping out of difficult situations. Interestingly Vinay, known for his comedic prowess, doesn’t always steal the humorous scenes – Lara is equally adept at the funnies.
The two share a great chemistry and the film also wins for its well-rounded characterisation. At no point does the film villainize Mihika for being uppity and instead gives her a rounded humane sketch. Again the film refrains from patronizing Vinay’s character.
The dialogue (Arshad Syed) crackles with wit. Director Shashant Shah (Dasvidaniya) makes a film with a fun, breezy start, that loses steam in the second half. The area where the film flounders is the lenient editing. Repetitive conversations (especially during the latter half) go on and on and scenes are stretched. Then you have a clumsily shot item number out of nowhere, and other haywire developments.
Still for the fleshed-out characters and the winning Lara-Vinay pairing – this one’s worth a watch. Enjoy!
Rating - 4/5 - courtesy : Sify
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