Batti Gul Meter Chalu Review

Rating: 2.5/5

2018-09-21T14:32:52+05:30
Critic Rating: (2.5/5)

Movie Name Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Movie Rating 2.5/5
Movie Cast  Shahid Kapoor,Shraddha Kapoor,Divyendu Sharma,Yami Gautam
Director Shree Narayan Singh
Music Director Anu Malik,Rochak Kohli,Sachet – Parampara
Production Company T-Series Films,Krti Pictures
Release Date September 21, 2018

Story

Shree Narayan Singh, after the success of Toilet Ek Prem Katha , comes up with another small town based issue film Batti Gul Meter Chalu. It was in fact one of the top 5 grossing movies in 2017. The director and the writer team Siddhart-Garima repeat their combination for one another issue tats needs to be brought into light. The bloated electricity bills and the power supply in small towns. Could the director repeat his magic?. Well, No.

Shahid Kapoor in Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Shahid Kapoor in Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Set in Tehri in Uttarakhand, the movie starts off with a story of three friends who mutually love each other.
Sushil Kumar Pant aka SK (Shahid Kapoor) is a streetsmart lawyer who makes money blackmailing the local bigshots.
Sundar Mohan Tripathi (Divyendu) is a straight forward man with dreams of achieving heights in his business which is start-up.
Lalitha Nautiyal aka Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor) is an aspiring fashion designer with gawdy work.

Both Sundar and SK love Nauti and things turn a bit ugly when she has to choose one among them. On the other side, Sundar’s is suddenly socked with a bill illegally sent by the elecricity corporation witha warnning that if not paid the business shall be seized and the house too. This puts the seedha saadha Sundar into panic and pain. He jumps into the river. SK becomes the hero from a con. He determines to take revenge on the corporation and the second half is more of a court drama, where he argues with a lawyer hired by the corporation. The role is played by Yami Gautam. The rest of the film is obviously how good won over the evil.

Well, no doubt the writers had great intentions like their first. Also, they follow a similar pattern of embedding humour and sound tracks popping in, on and off. However, the script spends time on the love story which is not in sync or relevance to the film. The aspect seems forced, nor the main pair had the charm. The actual movie starts off only in the second half during the debates. There are long lines which thrive to make an impact. Sometimes it did and sometimes it didn’t. The humour in the court was far away from being realistic which is not good, especially when you are dealing with a serious subject. Definitely lot of facts and figures are shown light which is a bit shocking to know, and they help the film. The movie goes beyond two and half hours, which is way too long considering an average treatment to the story. Director who is also the editor should ahve taken care of the prolonged film.

Performances wise, Shahid has grown to be a powerful actor like wine. He has a very good presence in the film. Shradha Kapoor is just OK. She performs well in some areas and nullifies them with artificial expressions. Divyendu has been a good actor always, but poor guy never gets substantial roles. He made his presence felt as long as he was there in the film. Yami Gautam’s screen time is minimized.

One thing which is an asset to the film is the location and the photography. The beauty of Uttarakhand is shown aesthetically. Music wise, Dekthe Dekthe and Gold Thamba are popular, but the latter’s use and need in the film are cliched.

All in all, the film is a failed attempt for a relevant issue, and the director should probably change his style, as it got repetitive right in the second film.

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Cast & Crew  
Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor