CHASHME BADDOOR: JUVENILE REMAKE

Love and friendship just got redefined with a high-pitched, frenzied, double dose (read David Dhawan) loud humour.

Love is "When you can't change the girl, chaaiinge the girl"......"Puppy love choro.De de pappi."

Friendship is "har ek friend kamina hota hai”. Or "pyaar agar pant hai, to dosti chaddi hai.Buddies, you are my chaddies."

Dialogues(Farhad-Sajid) like these sum up this typical David Dhawan remake of Sai Paranjpye's 1981 classic, ‘Chashme Buddoor'. The story is the same. The humour is cheesy, the actors are acrobatic ,the screenplay (Renuka Kunzru)amateurish.

The original story had all the makings of a lovely, charming comedy. Three friends, eye the next-door good girl. Two of them who are good for nothing lechers ,fail at their miserable attempts to get her. Instead the good boy gets her. Now, the other two try their best to ruin the budding romance. David Dhawan brings his own brand of 'Hero No 1' humour that entails meaningless romping and dancing,; to the story and  gives it an over the top treatment aimed at the youth, clearly with an eye on the box office.

So we have characters, each louder than the other .Jai (Siddharth) aspires to be an actor and is capable of almost molesting an actress during an audition in order to be believable.          

 Omi  ( Divyendu Sharma)  only talks in tawdry shayari.The opening one goes like this, "Kashmir na koi de sakta hai, na koi le sakta hai,Kashmir mein sirf teen din, do raat ka honeymoon package ho sakta hai."

Sid (Ali Zafar)is the good man who talks from the heart. The first two are always upto mischief and fun (more school boyish and silly) while Sid obeys mom-on-the-phone and goes to meet a girl, Seema, for an arranged match. He ends up falling in love with another Seema (Tapsee Pannu)  over a coffee and sandwich; the most ridiculous scene in the film. Seema is far removed from the original, innocent, sweet next-door girl. She sports a tattoo on her lower back ,runs away often from her army man dad and exclaims "dum hai, boss" every time she is impressed with Sid. Mr Dhawan probably does not question why anyone would spoil his or her friendship for her.

If the three men and their juvenile antics are not enough to bring in the laughs, there is Seema's dad and chacha (Anupam Kher in double role) who gets slapped around every second by his mother. How's that for slapstick humour, literally? A subplot involving the boys' landlady , Josephine (Lillette Dubey,)with the local cafe owner, Joseph (Rishi Kapoor) includes the use of the famous detergent powder, ‘Chamko' from the original film. This is certainly not half as charming as Deepti Naval's beaming face as she holds up the packet of 'Chamko" saying...'baar baar,lagataar'.

Sajid Wajid's loud  music moves with movie's frenzied tone and lyrics(Kausar Munir) like "har ek friend kamina hota hai' are situational.

All three actors,Siddharth,Ali and Divyendu are equally good. Their  terrific energy lifts the film way above cheesy lines. Tapsee is sweet but does nothing that stays with you. Rishi Kapoor and Anupam Kher come across as more juvenile than the young cast.Lillette Dubey looks great and is controlled despite her over the top character.

David Dhawan's Chashme Baddoor, works only because of the three actors. To enjoy the real charm and humour, watch the original.