Cheeni Kum Review

Cheeni Kum is a film written and directed by R. Balki. I had this film in the back-burner for quite some time. So since I had to see something light, I decided to pick up this film. And I am much satisfied with this film.

Plot; Buddhadev, a 64 year old Chef in London falls in love with 34 year old, Neena Verma.

Story and direction: This is what I would call a love story with a twist. And I would say, although I had my doubts, but I was highly entertained by this twist. The film has quite the beautiful setting. The character of Buddha is quite a one. We see various shades of him which I liked a lot. And the characters we have surrounded around Buddha was also good. A special mention to Colgate and the way he pronounced 'Zafrani Pulao'. Then we have a mother who nags Buddha a lot and his blood cancer suffering neighbor, who is called 'Sexy' (we never get her real name in the entire film, quite an interesting thing). Then we are introduced to Neena which was a well shaped up character. Then we have Neena's father (who also doesn't have a name), which was an OK kind of character to me. Balki did a lot of hard-work on the characterization which is clearly visible in the film. I was hooked to the film in its entire duration which was due to the story. And Balki deserves a lot of credit for that. The structure of the film has been replicated in Ki and Ka (which was quite a poor film, considering Balki's caliber). But the main fault I would say for this film, that if you take off the characters there is nothing unique in the film.

Music: Ilaiyaraaja scores the film. Now considering the talent of this maestro, I would say that he did a pretty average job here. Most of the tunes have been of his previous ventures. The title track is OK but not a standout. That also can be said for the other songs in the film too.

Performances: Assembling some of the powerhouses of Bollywood, is a thing that highly paid off in this film. Amitabh Bachchan was fantabulous as Buddha. He played all the different shades of his character with ease. He always reminds me why he is considered a legend. Tabu was also great in her role of Neena. Paresh Rawal was also good as Neena's Gandhian father. Zohra Sehgal proved that age is just a number. Same goes for Swini Khara who delivered a fine performance.

Favorite Scene: It would be the scene just before the ending of the film where Buddha goes to a pole near Qutab Minar to fulfill one of his wishes and his mother helps him in doing so. After fulfilling a wish something quite bad happens and he goes again to the pole, but in vain. Amitabh Bachchan displayed varied emotions in this scene and the switch was fantastic.

Verdict: Although not the best film of Amitabh Bachchan, I would say it's a decent watch. I was highly entertained throughout the film.

I am going with an 8/10.