Chalo Dilli

A Vinay Pathak and Lara Dutta movie. This is a remake of the English movie Planes,Trains and Automobiles. This is the first Vinay Pathak movie I have watched and was quite a refresher for me. The bollywood movies which I watched prior to this were 1.  Love Aaj Kal which was more like Love in Lame Kal and 2. Aisha was pure torture and couldn’t get myself to sit through it. I am not sure if thats the reason that I like Chalo Dilli more than other people seemed to have liked it.

The movie is about Mihika Banerjee, a strong career oriented woman who is an investment banker by profession and runs a large company. She is the ‘bitch from hell’ for her employees, I could quite relate to the role Sandra Bullock played in The Proposal though I would have to admit, I hated Sandra Bullock more clearly meaning she did more justice to the role. Back to Mihika Banerjee, she is portrayed to be extremely career minded that she is willing to forego her birthday celebrations with her hubby (Akshay Kumar) for some business deal. She clearly belongs to the high class society and is a clean freak who dislikes the typical loud, over-friendly middle classed Indian co-passenger. On her way to Dilli she meets a man Manu Gupta who perfectly fits that class of people she loathes.

The movie shows how these how these two individuals with completely opposite personalities have a rather adventurous long journey together. I must say certain parts of the movie have exceptionally witty one liners by Vinay Pathak but the charm doesn’t last through the length of the movie. In fact, after a bit it seems rather too cliched and expected. This journey helps Mihika appreciate the smaller joys in life like the beauty of  sun rise. The journey turns out to be more a life-lesson which helps her set her priorities right – family over work. Most importantly the icy witch learns to smile.

In short a lovely watch, very refreshing when compared to the mainstream bollywood love stories. But definitely could have been better in terms of the depth the characters have. They end up being just the stereotypes one has in their head nothing beyond.

3 for the movie but because of the fact that this is a refreshing change from the mainstream bollywood cinema another 0.5 points.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5