Reviews & Ratings for
Chupke Chupke (1975)

The 70s was a time when there were hardcore commercial movies that purely entertained, and there were parallel or art movies, that provided realistic pictures of the society at different levels. And then, there was Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who catered to both these aspects.

Hrishida's movies were such that anyone and everyone could enjoy them. Let's take one of the greatest laughter riots of Bollywood - Chupke Chupke. So there's this professor of botany, by the name Parimal Tripathi (Dharmendra), who often visits a hill-station for his research on flowers. The chowkidar of this place has to rush back to his village as his grandson is ailing, and that's how Parimal takes up the role of the chowkidar. A troop of girls arrives with their strict professor, and he goes about carrying their load and doing odd jobs for them. One of the girls in this troop is Sulekha (Sharmila Tagore). It so turns out that these women are also students of Botany, who study Parimal Tripathi's textbooks. So naturally, when they learn that this professor is staying put in this place, they wish to meet him. But Parimal is not the professor right now, but a chowkidar. And so, they meet only the chowkidar. Sulekha soon discovers this fact, and that's how the two of them fall in love.

Post their marriage, Parimal's ego is hurt by the fact that Sulekha reveres her older sister's husband, Raghavendra (Om Prakash), and almost idolises him. So our hero wants to spite this man. Dressed up as a driver, he goes to Raghavendra's home, and speaks more than perfect Hindi with the man who is very particular about speaking unadulterated language. You may crack up at the words he ends up using in this process. Enter Sulekha here, and it isn't long before Raghavendra and his wife begin to suspect her of having a relationship with the driver who, unbeknownst to them, is her husband. To make matters worse (for them and best for us!), Parimal arranges for his friend Sukumar (Amitabh Bachchan) to pretend as Parimal the professor and make his way to Raghavendra's home. There is also a common friend named Prashant (Asrani), between Raghav and Parimal, who is the only one who remains true to his identity on both sides. He has a beautiful sister, Vasudha (Jaya Bachchan), also a botany student. In accordance with the plan, Sukumar, as Parimal, pretends to be angry with Raghav about the fact that his 'wife' has eloped with the 'driver' that morning, and so, Prashant takes him to his home. More chaos ensues as Sukumar falls for Vasudha!

So, what are you looking for? Pure humour and wit? It's here. Subtle political and social satire? It's here. Comedy with some meaning and sense? It's here. Intellect? It's here. Easily one of the best clean comedies ever? It's here. Meaning and masala merge into one, and Hrishida films result.

This is a very enjoyable farce where Dharmendra first impersonates a lowly caretaker, and then plays an elaborate prank on his new brother-in-law by becoming his driver. Amitabh plays his best friend. It was fun to watch Amitabh play a nerdy character. He really reminded me of Abhi's comedy in this. So different than most of what I have seen Amitabh do. This is my first time seeing Jaya so young, and she was absolutely adorable.

But on to the main pair of the movie. Dharmendra was amazing! Yes, I have seen Sholay (in less than ideal circumstances with my BIL laughing throughout.) But Dharmendra! He is SUCH a hottie in this, and so funny!

The subtitles I had were actually very good, because they explained some of the word play -- at one point noting (Goo in Hindi means Shit)!!

And I looked up Sharmila because her smile was so familiar and went AHA! -- she's Saif's mother and he looks SO much like her, especially his smile. I was disappointed that we sort of leapt straight from the caretaker schtick to their wedding, because Sharmila and Dharmendra were sizzling together.

Certain parts of this movie moved very, very fast in plot, and other parts just kind of stayed in place to milk every possible moment of farce. I enjoy a good farce, but farces need to be fast paced, and this movie sometimes was languid. I also sort of didn't get the POINT of creating such an elaborate multi-day prank on a brother-in-law" Frequently farces are lies to hide something -- like the fact that a leopard is on the loose like in Bringing Up Baby. Or like in Housefull putting on a good show for in-laws. This was just a prank for prank's sake.

But back to Dharmendra. WOW. He was fantastic in this. So funny, so cute, so sexy, so everything. And he is 1000 times more good looking than his sons who must take after their poor mother.