Chori Chori
Director: Milan Luthria
Year: 2003
Duration: 135 minutes
Music: Sajid Ali/Sajid-Wajid
Rating: 6.5
Trans: Stealthily
Funny how the brain works. While watching this I thought to myself that this
Bollywood film would have been a good vehicle for Goldie Hawn a few decades
back and after seeing it I read that in fact it was based on a 1992 Goldie
Hawn-Steve Martin film titled Housesitter. I have never seen that but somewhere
in the dark recesses of my brain that knowledge must have been residing there
waiting for its turn. It sounds cute. I should track it down for a cute viewing
experience. This too is a very cute and sweet film with the brains of a firefly
and a script that can only be described as doggerel - a word I have been
wanting to use. Instead of Goldie, this has the lovely Rani Mukerji - perhaps
too beautiful for the role - and Ajay Devgn - perhaps too churlish for the
role. As idiotic as it is, it is hard not to want to pet it and keep it out
of the rain. Every close-up of Rani was a jolt to my body and those of Sonali
Bendre not far behind. Too bad Shahrukh wasn't the male lead - Ajay's hang
dog expression throughout is like a sleeping pill.
From the mid-90s into the 2000's big fat
happy wealthy extended families were popular. Everyone is slightly eccentric,
the mother is held in sacred regard, the grandmother is the font of all wisdom,
the houses are huge and love flows like a broken water pipe. And a lot of
songs. This is one of those. If only life was like that though mine
came pretty close without the songs. Or the wealth. Or the big house. If
you haven't seen Housesitter recently, here is a rundown of the silliness
of this film. Rani is Khusi which means happiness and she is living alone
in the big city with no parents but she has her stuffed doll. She is a dreamer
and a schemer. Especially a schemer who can make up stories on the fly. Because
she keeps inventing excuses to miss work, she not only gets fired but tossed
out of her apartment. But the night before while working as a bartender at
a corporate party she meets Ranbir (Ajay) and dislikes him immediately. As
do we.
He is down in the dumps because he is an
architect and built half of a house on a high hill in Simla looking down
on the stunning valley for his love Pooja (Sonali). But when he shows it
to her and declares his love, she looks at him like he is crazy. Maybe you
should have asked me if I loved you before you built this. But then it wouldn't
be a surprise. But fast-thinking Khusi remembers the conversation and the
napkin he drew the house on and thinks, why not. She takes a bus to Simla
- which really is fabulous looking - finds the house and moves in. And starts
charging things to his name in the town.
It turns out this big fat happy family
lives right down the street and they take to her like a bee to honey - especially
when she tells them she is the fiancé of their son. Welcome, welcome.
Then he turns up but after first showing shock, then anger, then surrender
he begins to realize this could work out in his favor. Make the family happy
and make Pooja jealous. A perfect plan except for one thing, everybody loves
Khushi. And unless you have never watched a Bollywood film, you know where
this is headed. That's right. He has to kill her, cut up her body and feed
it to the wolves rather than tell his family it was all make-believe. If
you are a Rani fan, you can sit through anything with her and her millions-dollar
smile and I am, so this was just tasty fodder for my appreciation.
