CHEENI KUM, movie review by Sarita Tanwar in MIDDAY

Kuch Meetha ho jaaye!

Rating: ***

What’s it about:
With the newer lot of filmmakers coming into the industry, there’s fresh vision and more innovative ideas.
R Balki who makes a breezy debut with Cheeni Kum, displays a unique style — the romance between a 64-year-old guy and a 34-year-old woman is laced with dollops of humour.
Buddha (Bachchan) is a chef-cum-restaurateur who lives in London with his mother (Sehgal). Things change one day when he encounters Shalini (Tabu), a Delhi girl visiting a friend in the city.
They meet at his restaurant and end up arguing. Many fights later, they discover feelings for each other. He’s arrogant and difficult; she’s strong and inde- pendent. Hell breaks loose when her dad (Rawal) finds out they want to get married.
What’s good:
The best thing about Cheeni Kum is that the romance just happens. There is no mandatory wooing and singing around the trees.
There’s none of the ‘I love you’ or ‘marry me’ stuff. Director Bali has stepped away from the way romance is usually portrayed in Hindi films and succeeds in making the otherwise difficult-to-swallow love story between an older man and a woman thirty years his junior, edible.
The screenplay is novel and original. London looks heaven-like and the scenes between Amitabh and Paresh have their own distinctive touch.
Amitabh Bachchan is in his element as he breathes fire into his role with some of the wittiest lines in a long time. Tabu slips into her part brilliantly. However, the surprise gem is Zohra Sehgal. She’s absolutely delectable. The child artiste Sexy (Khara) is also super.

What’s not:
The length of the film is the biggest dampener. Some snappy editing could’ve helped a lot.

It’s almost as if Balki was at a loss after a while and just stretched the film. What’s also a bit confusing is the tone of the film in both halves — it begins on a different note and ends on another. The disjointed feeling almost makes it look like two different films.

What’s that:
A suave man living in London finds it difficult to ask for a condom in a medical store? Yeh baat kuch hazam nahin hui.

What to do:
Watch it for the novelty in content and the sparkling chemistry between Amitabh and Tabu.