Chashme Baddoor past and present

I was pretty disappointed that I was not as disappointed by the Chashme Baddoor remake as I had anticipated from the promos. In fact, I had planned on skipping the movie altogether, but ended up watching it based on my parents recommendations. Also, the fact that Rajeev Masand gave it a fairly positive review helped (my tastes seem to line up with his on most Hindi movies). Also, just to make get my frame of reference right, I followed up the remake with the evening show of original classic.

So, here are my thoughts as usual:

• The remake works solely due to the performance of the support cast with the lead actor & actress being eye-candy. This was the most jarring departure from the original where Farooq Shaikh & Deepti Naval are at the forefront and their chemistry is the backbone of the movie.
• If the lead cast of the original is a cake with the support cast adding the layers of icing, then the remake is more like a kaju barfi with the hero & heroine serving as the silver foil for decoration without adding to the taste.
• In the remake, Ali Zafar seems to be a Physics student, and that seems to explain the lack of Chemistry with Taapsee Pannu.
• Watching the two movies back to back served as a good reminder of the way the story telling pace has evolved over the last 3 decades. The original has a fairly laid back pace, while the remake tries to maintain a laugh a minute pace.
• The remake has adapted quite a few of the original’s scenes starting with the balcony sighting of the heroine, leading up to the fake kidnapping.
• The money exchanging hands sequence also gives you an idea of the kind of inflation we have had – Rs 10 in the original vs Rs 500 in the new one. As a side note, this is also a basic economics lesson that we see floated on social networks where 3 people manage to settle debts without anyone getting richer.
• I preferred the songs of the original, particularly the classical ones.
• I wonder whether the “Andha Ghoda Race Mein Dauda” from the remake is a take on the “Kali ghodi dwaar khadi”. The timing in the movie is somewhat similar.
• Cigarettes feature a lot more prominently in the original, but there were no warnings during the screening in the theatre unlike the remake. Of course, Saeed Jaffrey as Lallan Miyan makes a pretty good case against smoking to Farooq Shaikh in the original.
• Omi’s shayari is a lot more sophisticated in the original.
• The posters on the wall between the 3 friends had more variety in the original, especially for Omi and Siddharth.
• They retained the names of the 3 friends, but changed it for the female lead in the remake (Seema vs Neha). Wonder whether it was only for the puns & shayaris.
• They managed to force in the Miss Chamko bit in the remake, albeit not with the same impact as the original.
• The remake definitely didn’t emphasize on employment on part of the lead characters unlike the originals where Deepti Naval works as a part time sales person to pay for her music lessons.

Bottom line is that the remake is a typical David Dhawan entertainer where you can give rest to the grey cells, while the original remains a classic and seeing it on the big screen was a unique experience.