Cheeni Kum (2007)

Cheeni Kum boasts of a peculiar tagline 'Sugarfree Romance', the never paired Tabu and Amitabh Bacchan and also Illayaraja's superb music. Cheeni Kum is one of finest works till date with superb performances, good storyline and everything one wants in a perfect entertainer. Comparisons with RGV's Nishabd make no sense at all. That one is completely different.34 year-old Neena Verma (Tabu) meets the 64 year-old short-tempered chef of an Indian Restaurant in London, Spice 6 - Buddha Dev Gupta (Amitabh Bacchan). Love blossoms between them and Buddha travels all the way to Neena's residence in Delhi and asks her father (Paresh Rawal) for his daughter's hand. But there's one problem – Neena's father is just 58, six years younger than Buddha.The story promises lots of laughs, drama and fun. The screenplay is superb. A number of sequences catch your attention in the first half – 1. Zafrani Pulao incident and Amitabh telling sorry to Neena. 2. Neena introducing Jesin as her boyfriend and the birthday party. 3. The relation Amitab shares with his mother. 4. 9 year-old cancer affected neighbor, Sexy's interest for Adult movies and the way she talks like grownups. But the second half of the movie is not as indulging as the first. But still the movie is fine there too – for instance, Buddha looking out for different chances to ask for his daughter's hand. The end is a bit stretched but still, it is perfect. The film could have been edited by at least 15 minutes for better impact. But the situations described in the film are quite hilarious.Coming to the performances – Tabu stands first. She is superb. Her camera presence is bound to be noticed. She teases Amitabh throughout the film and deserves mention for that. She is under the skin of Neena. Despite having a dominant actor as her co-star she makes her presence felt. Amitabh gets a fair chance to prove himself too. He plays the character of 'angry old man' this time. He mainly does well in the final reels. He and Tabu make a good pair. Waiting to see more of them. Zohra Sehgal as Buddha's mother is first-rate. The sequence where she talks with Tabu for the first time is well filmed. Swini Khara as Sexy is equally good. Her expressionless face works. She delivers dialogues with tremendous ease (though I doubt if she actually knew the meaning of what she spoke in the film). Paresh Rawal as Neena's father is too good. He enters in the second-half and dominates it mostly. Paresh Rawal delivers something new in every film and is very true to the work appointed. Other supporting cast is adequate.Debutante director R. Balki shows his expertise in directing. The direction is very good and so is the production design. Cinematography is good. The posh locales of London and Delhi spice up the goings-on. Background music by Illayaraja is too good. The theme music deserves applause. Songs are good too but they take a backseat. Baatein Hawa Hai is hardly there while Cheeni Kum comes now and then in the background. Sooni Sooni's only first two lines are featured towards the end. Jaane Do Na is the only song that is actually there. The costumes are perfect – especially that of Tabu are a treat to the eyes.On the whole, Cheeni Kum is a decent entertainer. Must watch it at least once.

Cheeni Kum is an unusual tale between an old, bitter restaurant owner and a lonely, young tourist. The strange love story that emerges between them begins when the tourist, Nina (Tabu), stumbles into Buddhadev's (Bachchan) restaurant in London with a friend. When Nina sends her food back to the kitchen, Buddha is enraged by the disrespect that she shows his restaurant, because according to him, his restaurant has the best Indian food in London. He tells her that the accusations she made against the food that was prepared by one of his chefs was wrong. The next day, Nina shoves his words back down his throat when she comes back to his restaurant with the meal she ordered perfectly prepared. From there on, Buddha no longer looks at the glass as half empty; his outlook on life completely changed with the meeting of Nina. She brought out the fun side of him that had been missing for so long.Their relationship faces many challenges along the way, one in particular is when they try and take the next step in their relationship. With them being so far apart in age (Buddha is 64 and Nina is 34), it is not the norm in their society to be together. Nina's father is one who doesn't respect their relationship because of the age difference and therefore doesn't respect their decision to be together forever.Cheeni Kum has the potential to be a very well known Bollywood movie, but because of the long drawn out way in which it was performed, it is not one that I would recommend that anyone go see. Cheeni Kum didn't have the long songs that portrayed what was going to happen in the film and by not doing this went against what Bollywood Cinema is really all about. There were many things that happened in this movie that brought me to the conclusion that this was not a movie that I would watch again. One scene in particular that stuck out to me was when Nina and Buddha were attacked by the hoodlums on the street. They were suddenly surrounded by them, and then shortly after the townspeople all gathered around and scared the hoodlums away. I thought that this scene, while shot with an overhead view showing everything that was going on, was not one that was necessary for the making of this movie to be complete. Overall, I thought that this movie could have been better if it had been short and to the point without all the unnecessary scenes being put in just to take up time.

Well this is the first time i am writing a comment here on IMDb for a movie title. Thats how much this film impressed me.I saw the trailers a few months ago, and as with most of the modern Bollywood offerings when you have flashy item numbers, and the stellar star cast ensemble, you tend to want rush to the box office and be done with your craving. Only to learn disappointment that the film didn't meet any of your expectations. all the best bits of the movie were in the trailer itself, and the item numbers you could watch later on you tube.Well, Cheeni Kum, was no such thing. No fancy songs, no fancy beauties with the sex appeal, and an interesting premise that actually followed through right to the very end.I had been putting off watching this film due to the poor reviews, and after watching this film, i cant believe how much off the mark these critics can be. Nothing is further from the truth.The subject matter, was handled delicately, but more importantly with sensitivity, and above anything with maturity and intelligence. Something so rare in India, except from the likes of Sanjay Leela Bhansali or Karan Johar.Of course this film doesn't appeal to all, and would be better appreciate by the NRIs, but what a class act indeed. Tabu was superb, and Amitabh was absolutely outstanding.This film isn't just about the possible romance between a 64 year old and 34 year old. It was so much more. How to look on the brighter side of life, but not only that, but how to take the best from our teachings old, and not to cling on traditions that benefit no one, but the traditions themselves.I was constantly waiting to be disappointed throughout the film, as thats what most flicks do. At some point the cracks in the script and screenplay start to appear with contrived performances and unfolding of story's. This didn't happen here, and i am thoroughly impressed.Heartily recommended.

well i don't know what people saw in this movie i don't know. i saw this movie yesterday and i got a severe headache. other than few good dialog there is nothing in this movie.the big b rt now is preaching to fall in love with girls of half of you age. i didn't like the movie at all. i wanted to give 1 rating but giving 3 as i like the role of the small girl who is called "sexy" by AB. my word "DONT WATCH"save your self donot watch this movie.save time and money.