Chhichhore
Year: 2019
Director: Nitesh Tiwari
Cast: Sushant Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Pratiek Babbar, Varun Sharma

Nitesh Tiwari is on a roll. The man who directed Chillar Party, Bhootnath Returns and Dangal has managed to dish out yet another winning recipe at the box-office. Chhichhore may not be his most original or imaginative effort but it still has enough in its kitty to woo the audiences. The result is yet another hit film!

Borrowing elements from Three Idiots and Student Of The Year, the story-line of Chhichhore presents a part-real, part-imaginary college and hostel life while musing about the increasing pressures of Indian education system. So, like Three Idiots, there is a student attempting suicide after failing to crack an entrance exam; some funny ragging scenes; a whole bunch of colorful hostel characters; a college-romance and a bond of camaraderie. Like Student Of The year, there is a class divide between student groups and an annual sports competition to win!

What works well for the film is the fun and frolic quotient. The carefree hostel life and the wacky happenings there form the most interesting core for the plot. The characters, the lingo and the episodes in that hostel are engaging and entertaining. The budding romance is also captured well. But the villainy of the ‘Have-s’; the struggle by the ‘Have Not-s’ and the whole annual sports competition plank seems rather filmi.

The actors – Sushant Rajput and Shraddha Kapoor as the main leads; Varun Sharma and others as the ‘Gang’ and Prateik Babbar as the ‘villain’ do fair jobs of fitting into their characters, without doing anything exceptional.

The movie, which is an unabashed celebration of the good old college days, tries to tell that one should let go of the ‘Success at all costs’ fixation and understand that ‘Try your best; leave the rest to destiny’ works better in life. The resounding box-office success shows that the message, (and the mauj-masti nostalgia!) has resonated with the audiences!

Rating

3 stars