Chup Chup Ke - Movie Review

Published: June 5, 2009

By JENNIFER HOPFINGER

Starring Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Sunil Shetty, Neha Dhupia, Sushma Reddy, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Om Puri

Jeetu (played by Shahid Kapoor), a debt-ridden business failure, leaves his fiancé, Pooja (Sushma Reddy), and tries to drown himself in the ocean so his family can collect insurance money. However, he’s rescued by two fishermen, Gundya (Paresh Rawal) and Bandya (Rajpal Yadav), and hilarity ensues. The men believe Jeetu owes them for saving him and putting him in the hospital, so Jeetu pretends to be deaf and mute so he doesn’t have to acknowledge his debt to them. Gundya owes money to a businessman, Prabhat (Om Puri), and mistakenly believes Jeetu is rich, not poor, and he tries to use Jeetu to pay off his own debts.

 

The first half of the film is Indian farce at its best—although Jeetu gets beat up a few too many times for it to keep being funny. The second half takes a serious turn as Jeetu falls in love with Prabhat's niece, Shruti (Kareena Kapoor), who really is mute and an heiress to a fortune—and that’s where the movie loses its luster. Neither Shahid nor Kareena shine here, largely because the effervescent actress doesn’t do any talking, which stifles the strong chemistry the two share in other films, such as Jab We Met. Despite the weak romance, the plot remains compelling as Jeetu’s problems deepen.

 

Shruti is humiliated after her brother, Mangal (Sunil Shetty), arranges her marriage and the groom’s family breaks it off. Another groom is lined up, but Shruti doesn’t want to marry him because he’s only interested in her money, so she and her cousin Meenakshi (Neha Dhupia) get Jeetu to pretend to love her in order to get her out of the marriage, and eventually, he’s not pretending. The women learn that he’s not disabled or rich, and Meenakshi comes to question his motives with Shruti. His lies keep catching up to him, and so do his debts. Plus, he’s got a fiancé back home. He’s forced to make some impossible choices, but the resolution to his dilemma is unsatisfying and abrupt.

Chup Chup Ke is rated Worth Watching.

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