Chalte Chalte

I really liked this movie even if it's true in some scenes we feel bored and I think it could be better done.

Yet the songs are really nice. The landscapes also (especially the one in Europe). The story is simple but I think it was the intention of the producer (to produce something which relates the reality).

I give 7/10 to this movie especially for the songs and for the landscapes which take us miles away at least during 3 hours so we forget our problems and daily life to enter in the world of 2 "different" kind of lovers which 2 opposite personalities.

To watch more than one time because really enjoyable songs, musics and landscapes!

Priya's (Rani Muherjee) performance as a controlling, dominating, "Nit picking" "Neat freak" wife was excellent +! Raj's(Shahrukh Khan)performance as a hard worker, responsible, faithful and romantic husband was Outstanding! Music, songs and dances were beautiful, lively and sexy. They looked like a lovely couple. They loved each other very much and were faithful to each other but it appeared that there were personality conflicts, and family class differences between them because Priya was from a upper class family and Raj was from a middle class family. According to Priya's family, Sameer was the ideal husband for pry, but Priya chose Raj as her husband.

Priya's aunt interfered in Priya's and Raj's marriage. She did not approve Priya's new friends whom she had met through Raj. She also did not approve Priya's life style and believed Priya was not leading a life style that her family had dreamed and had hoped for her.

Raj was positively proud of his hard work and his accomplishments as a business man. Knowing that how Priya's family felt about him, he felt inferior when he was around Priya's family especially aroungd Aunt Anna and Sameer as Sameer was the person Priya's parents had chosen for her as an ideal husband.

Priya did not compliment Raj in a party that was hosted by Sameer although she complimented Sameer. Feeling inferior and insecure, Raj had to ask a waiter about his suit and Watch while Priya was dancing with Sameer.

At home, Priya refused to eat dinner after Raj had complimented her cooking. She also refused to hug him after he had brought her flowers and vegetables and had washed the dishes after coming home working all day while Priya was a home maker.

Raj ran into financial difficulties with his business. He did not approach his father asking for help. He did not go to her relatives or friends asking for help. Priya did not approach her father for help. She did not go to her relatives and friends either. She went to Smaeer asking for help. He gave her 2.5 million rupees as a favior. Priya falsified to Raj about where she received the funds. When Raj had found out about from whom she got the money from, the hell broke loose. Later, Sameer made it look like only a loan.

Although Priya had admitted to Sameer it was wrong for her to accept money from Sameer, she never appolagized to Raj for accepting the money.

No one in the world is perfect. There are no perfect marriages in the whole world. Raj took all the blames. He fell on his keens and publicly appoligized to Priya, Aunt Anna and Sameer for every problems in their marriage.

Raj is a hard worker, family type of person, he loved Priya very very much and was a faithful husband to her.

After considering the type of person Raj is and if some like Raj was to be my husband, I would have eaten my dinner with him. I would have greeted him at the door with a hug or kiss when he had arrived with vegetables and flowers. I would not have nagged him every night about petty things until he had exploded. As a home maker, I would have put away his shoes and would have hung up his jacket after he had returned home from a hard day of work. I would have appoligized for being a nagging wife. I would have apolagized for requesting and accepting money from Sameer because it takes at least two to tangle

Chalte Chalte is no doubt a fully fledged Bollywood commercial venture with top stars, exotic foreign locations, expensive sets, colourful dances and melodious songs but at the same time it's a daring experiment in many ways. First of all, the story defies the set rules of development and plot construction: the boy and girl get married very early in the story and seemingly there is no emminent danger to their "living happily ever after" and at a time when you are expecting some external factors to pop up and spoil their happy marriage, the talented writer manages to create an effective and convincing internal conflict to keep the story within its logical confines. Secondly, the flash-back technique is used very intelligently: not merely for the sake of breaking the linear order of events, but to release the desired information in well calculated bits and pieces, inserted at the most appropriate places. Thirdly, the minor characters are so fully developed and so painstakingly dealt with that it reminds you of the great masters of characterisation in the Russian classics. It's a common observation in the Bollywood movies that the hero's friends or the heroine's female friends never match them in personality, performance or screen presence. The reason being two-fold: you can not financially afford to hire a good actor for a minor role and big stars are not available for minor roles anyway. The producer of Chalte Chalte however has manage to tackle this problem very successfully. He has hired a whole bunch of fresh faces...God knows from where?...and made them do exactly what was required. For the first time perhaps the status of a hero's minor friend has risen above an extra boy.

Finally I should pay tribute to Johny Leaver, who in his mellow role of a failed lover, has busted his own cliche of a jabbering clown.

What can I say about Chalte Chalte?

The cast was excellent as were their portrayal of the individual characters, with Rani shining out the most. She has come a long way from her days in Ghulam, and with her last few performances, she is sure to take the place that Kajol held. She looks classic, acts flawlessly in both emotional and comedic scenes and seems natural. SRK, what is there to say about him hat has not already been said - he is on par with his other performances.

The story is entertaining and patchily scripted with a few flaws and surprises. I have to say that I expected a lot out of this movie, but inevitably it was a concatenation of a other bollywood movies with storylines being nicked from movies such as Saathiya, DDLJ and Hum Tumhare Hai Sanam. Never the less, the songs were good, direction was professional and it was good to see other locations apart from Switzerland.

I had to issues with this though: 1 - why did they not use Johnny Lever to his full potential?

2 - why is it necessary to have a happy ending? Priyas own words were: even though you love each other it is sometimes not possible for a couple to be together. This is a way of live. With their excellent portrayal of married couple squabbles, it was unjust to say that they would forget everything and go back to being a happy couple? IF they had separated as couples do, it would have being a truly realistic movie and a step for bollywood in acknowledging that all things are not lubby-dubby.

I absolutely adore this movie! I've noticed that films produced by Shah Rukh himself tend to end up in my TOP-10 list -- Asoka, Main Hoon Na. And the same happened with Chalte Chalte -- it's definitely one of my favorites now, right up there with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and DDLJ, if not better.

I really love the SRK--Rani jodi. They both gave great performances and looked really convincing and sweet as a couple. I was so rooting for Raj and Priya to be happy and together in this film that the viewing turned into a very emotional experience for me, which I didn't expect at all, having read some rather lukewarm reviews.

Rani looks absolutely stunning (well, as usual) and very feminine. Shah Rukh oozes charm and charisma in a really complex role. I personally just loved his character -- with all his flaws and insecurities. Together they are just way too cute.

I liked how realistic and unpretentious this film was, liked the drama in the second half, loved the music and all the songs. They are all outstanding.

Overall, I think it was a very well made film that really endeared itself to my heart. Not one boring scene (except for the very beginning -- I really thought that subplot could have been done away with), and Johnny Lever was great -- hilarious in most scenes (in an unusual role), serious and adding to the drama in others.

I'm just grateful that this film exists.