Chhalaang Movie Review - Try Harder

Chhalaang attempts an enthusiastic leap with sore feet.

In Hansal Mehta's Chhalaang, the titular name goes beyond the reference to sports. There is chhalaang from one tone to another, chhalaang from one plot-point to another, chhalaang from one character to another, and chhalaang from one intention to another. You don't need Sherlock to tell you that the landing is not smooth. Mehta grips his ambition and takes a leap but falls flat on every iteration.

Mahender Singh Hooda a.k.a Montu (Rajkummar Rao), is an ex-student turned PTI teacher in the same school he had passed out from. Montu takes his job very lightly. Like a typical student, he prefers sleep over arriving at school on time. It's not like he moves mountains in the campus. Students ask for better equipment, and he ignores them. A teacher asks for his period, and he nonchalantly agrees. His dedication lies in a chaat shop trying different sauces and taunting the owner over a trivial issue. He prefers the task of getting mattresses over conducting a proper PT class.

His zeal also lies in moral policing couples on Valentine's Day. When he starts harassing a married couple (he doesn't know that), you automatically guess their daughter will turn out to be the heroine of this film. She is Neelima (Nushrat Bharucha), who makes an appearance in the very next scene and, as expected, turns out to be that couple's daughter. What I didn't expect was her reaction. She does not slap or raises her voice on him, although she initially wanted to. Now, she deems it unworthy of attention.

According to the golden book of clichés, a girl and a boy are bound to be in love given they are (a) the leads and (b) distinctly attractive from others in the surrounding. Frankly, this angle might not have been so problematic if Chhalaang built on it. Montu's brother advises him to propose to Neelima before his love story changes to a love triangle. Any guesses what happens in the next scene? Unsurprisingly, Neelima's super senior Inder (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) makes an entrance. A graduate from Netaji Subhash National Institute of Sports, Patiala, Inder is the better version of Montu. Where Montu refrained from replacing a cricket ball, Inder buys a new basketball and even allows the students to take it home. If Montu is an old decaying scooter, then Inder is a brand new peppy Bullet. Both of them want Neelima to sit in the backseat. Who will win?

The context of the question shifts as the war moves from the heart to the ground. Montu challenges Inder to compete where the winner takes it all - girl, job, and respect. Chhalaang then enters into the category of sports-drama featuring usual beats and outcomes. Needless to say, the climax is deprived of surprise or vigour. More clumsy is the dull treatment given to the final competition - a moment generally filled with tension, excitement, and suspense is turned into one unstimulating sequence.

Montu's irresponsibility to his job serves not as a translation of his incompetence. He was inert. A catalyst is what he needed, and Inder plays the role. But his part undergoes an underwhelming transition. The Inder we are introduced to and the Inder at the end are the same: a professional in his field having respect for his job with the competency to strive for the best. His eyes take on a mocking reflection after knowing how Montu, through connections, got his position. However, the Inder in the middle portions takes this hate to a fistfight. Disappointingly, the story reduces him to a one-dimensional villain.

Satish Kaushik playing Montu's father, a savage personality, goes from giving burns to dumping life lessons. You want the Kaushik, who roasts his son using a Salman Khan gag. Instead, you get the Kaushik who pours drinks and advances the plot giving lazy inspirations. And if we move towards the children participating in the competition, they are utilized with noble intentions. After Inder takes every capable player, Montu forms a team of misfits better suited for studies or mobile games like Temple Run. If they are bad at sports, it's because they have never played it. While I liked their training session, the children lacked personality. Add on top of it the film's attempt to create moments out of Chak De! India, leaving you with unconvincing results. Even Neelima's fiery image is extinguished, and the inclusion of girls in the team is devoid of any motivation.

But the most shocking realization occurred after feeling a vast distance from the main protagonist and that too when you have spent 2 hours and 16 minutes in his company. Predictability is a contributing factor along with the frustration of seeing a been-there-done-before material. Yes, Mehta tries a tricky, tone-shifting approach, an ambition recently seen in Ludo. But Chhalaang has blandness written over it. A fight in a market consists of oddity that is jarring in this universe. Mehta, alas, fails in his experiment. At the end of the day, how can someone jump with a limp?

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