Hansal Mehta’s films are anything but soft and gentle. His propensity for harsh home truths is about to change.Chhalaang seems to be his breeziest show to date, slyly romantic slightly mushy, fully benevolent.
The dark edges and the sunless interiors of Hansal’s celebrated bio-pics are for now forgotten as we meet the smalltown sports teacher Rajkummar Rao who falls for the new ‘computer’ teacher played by Nushrratt Bharuccha who looks lovely.
The hero is an indolent insolent work shirker. The heroine is sharp and saucy.
“Daru pilayega?” she challenges our lazy sports teacher who when woken by his mother to attend to his educational duties as a sports teacher mumbles, “I don’t want children to spend their time in recreational activities. That’s why I’m bunking.”
There is an outstanding array of supporting players all pitching towards giving the presentation a supple synergy, actors like Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Saurabh Shukla, Satish Kaushik and Ila Arun who never fail to bring something special to the table.
But it’s the gentleness of the presentation that caught my attention in the trailer. From Chhal in 2002 …what a chhalaang for Hansal Mehta. He describes it as ‘Hansal 3: 0’.
Chhalaang has 3 ‘a’s in the titles, the hero Rajkummar Rao has 2 ‘m’s in his name , and the heroine Nushrratt Bharuccha has 2 ‘r’s 2 ‘t’s and 2 ‘c’s in her name. Surely that must mean something