Chalte Chalte - Movie Review

Published: September 17, 2009

By JENNIFER HOPFINGER

Starring Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukerji

If there were a recipe for the perfect romantic movie, this would be it—all the right ingredients are mixed just so and the result is a feast of imperfect love. Priya (Rani Mukerji) is upper-crust, Raj (Shahrukh Khan) is working class; she’s polished, he’s brash; and the two make an irresistible pair who can’t resist each other, despite a mountain of obstacles.

Raj owns a small trucking company in India. Priya is a fashion designer from Greece. A car accident brings this unlikely couple together, but Raj loses her phone number, and he spends weeks hunting high and low for her. When he finally finds her, he learns she’s engaged to her childhood friend, Sameer, and returning to her rich family in Greece for the nuptials. He travels there with her, hoping to win her heart along the way, and it works. But she’s got resistant parents to convince and a perfect fiancé to dump.

 

They find a way to be together, of course, and that’s where most romantic movies end—but here, that’s only the first half. The two wed and make a modest home for themselves in Mumbai, and after they come down from the high of their dramatic courtship, they discover marriage isn’t all wine and roses. By the time their first wedding anniversary rolls around, their relationship is in serious trouble.

 

In addition to major personality clashes—they can’t stand the qualities they once loved in each other—their different social backgrounds become a growing problem. Raj feels inadequate because he can’t provide Priya with the lifestyle her wealthy family once gave her. When Raj’s business runs into financial trouble and Priya tells a well-meaning lie to help him out, he stands to lose his wife and his livelihood.

 

Mukerji and Khan—who are frequent co-stars—have never been more in sync as actors and never more convincing as lovers, whether they’re making each other laugh, cry, yell, or swoon.

Chalte Chalte is rated Must See.

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