Chak de phatte. Review on Khosla Ka Ghosla

I am typically a person who doesn’t watch too many Bollywood movies. And that’s why I didn’t even notice when Khosla Ka Ghosla released. It was this track of the movie that I heard almost every hour on FM radio that got me attracted to the movie. Then a friend told me that it is a must watch. I still didn’t watch it. Then I finally relented and watched it a few months back on Sahara Filmy.

Needless to say I was astounded by it. The film, as it turns out, is strikingly close to reality. I could find people I know for real among the characters of this movie. First and foremost is the family of Mr. Khosla. I could identify with Chiraunjilal ‘Cherry’ Khosla, a character who is rather cynical, disconnected and oblivious to the joys of his family. I found shades of my father in KK Khosla. Boman Irani was the typical land shark that I have seen in this part of Delhi. Vinod Nagpal (who plays the neighbour Sahni) is the person who the family can rely on in their hard times.

*The Story

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KK Khosla is on the verge of retirement from a respected government job and decides to invest his entire life’s savings in building a new house in the much coveted region of South Delhi. After identifying the place where he and his family wants to live, they approach a property dealer to buy it. After paying the requisite money they rejoice and decide to do *bhoomi pujan to lay the foundation stone of their new home, only to find that their land has been acquired by another claimant called Khurana. They realize that they have been duped by Khurana and have lost their entire savings. What do they do now? Do they sit back and curse their fate? Do they take to the courts and pin their hopes on the law and its keepers? Or do they decide to fight back? Watch it if you haven’t already.

*My Comment

As I said above, I found shades of my father in Mr. Khosla, played to perfection by Anupam Kher. The movie starts by showing the daily routine of the Khosla family. There are plenty of things they show that we do in our daily life. The regimentally strict routine of getting up early in the morning, getting ready for the morning walk and then going out talking to the neighbours is something that Mr. Khosla and my dad do regularly. (Am I sounding as if Khosla sahab is my neighbour? Well, there’s a KK Khosla in everybody’s neighbourhood, isn’t it?). My dad too, like KK Khosla, retired from government service and moved to the suburbs of Delhi.

*The Star Cast

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Anupam Kher – KK Khosla

Who else can personify a middle class head of the family as good as Anupam Kher? The good thing about him is that he always lives up to your expectations. This character demanded him to be a cheerful man to begin with, engulfed by despair and hopelessness by the circumstances and ultimately a restrained joy at getting his cherished dream of a house at the place where he wanted it to be. Coming from a family of government servants, I have seen countless people similar to KK Khosla, whose ultimate goal in life is to settle down in a peaceful place after a service of over 30 years. Khosla knows the importance of money in a retired man’s life. Little wonder that he is sympathetic with Sethi when he refused to take money from Khurana.

Parveen Dabas - Cherry

This one time TV star has done a good job in the role of Chiraunjilal, aka Cherry. His entire attitude at the start of the story makes it clear that he has his own personal goals which are very different from the needs and desires of his family members. His decision to go to New York for better job prospects puts the family in conundrums over what to do next. His family, though taken aback, decides to accept his decision for his own benefit. But a change occurs in him when he sees his family go through the entire misery. He chucks his lifelong career in New York in favour of his family in India. (Sorry, for spilling some of the beans)

Ranveer Shorey – Bunty

The other good for nothing son of Mr. Khosla, Ranveer has been a revelation and has come a long way since his VJing days. Bunty’s attempts at smooth talking in front of his elders are quite comical and the most hilarious one is where Khurana snubs him in front of his dad when they go to meet him and negotiate with him to vacate their land. He is loud mouthed and aggressive, the kinds of traits that are needed to deal with shrewd fraudsters like Khurana.

Boman Irani – Khurana

He is the perfect blend of cunning, shrewdness, black-mailing mixed with a great comic sense. Khurana’s drunken scenes with Sethi and his secretary are worth watching again and again. His line maaro attitude on the plot of land that he is supposedly being sold by Sethi is hilarious. He shows scant respect for the rule of the law and is boastful of his wealth while plotting his next catch.

Navin Nischol – Sethi/Baapu

Yet another former film/TV star who made a good name for himself in this movie. Baapu is a small time theatre group’s head and is asked to become Sethi, to make a fake deal with Khurana. He performs well as Sethi and looks like the perfect NRI who wants to sell his plot of land at a booming rate. As Sethi, he handles the situation very well even when Khurana drags him to a party, despite objections from his secretary.

Vinay Pathak – Asif Iqbal

He is the saviour of the Khosla family and plots the way to seek revenge from Khurana. A stand up comedian otherwise, Vinay does well as he becomes the mind that thinks and acts along with the Khoslas, partly because he himself was duped by him.

Tara Sharma – Meghna

She has a small but significant role as she plays the love interest for Cherry and in due course becomes the facilitator for Asif and Khoslas as she manages to get Baapu and others to act out their parts.

*Final Comment

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*Few movies have been made to show the problems of the middle class. This is one of them. And that’s the reason why it clicks, especially with the people who have been affected by land and realty frauds. It is an eye opener for the rest, and it shows that when all options of justice are closed to the common man, he has only one option to follow – seek revenge!