Movie Review: Motichoor Chaknachoor - Humour in a time warp

The biggest killjoy for a joke is a situation where you have figured out its punch line long before it ends. Motichoor Chaknachoor suffers from that problem. It doesn’t take you more than 10 minutes to figure out where the film is headed, which is sad because the film looked like a winning concept on paper at least.

That bit is ironic. Motichoor Chaknachoor held the promise of being quirky fare, right from the unconventional casting of Nawazuddin Siddiqui opposite Athiya Shetty. As the duo tries to light up the stray comic sparks, you realise the awful truth— unimaginative writing affects comedy more than any other genre, and the ones that suffer squarely are the actors on screen.

If you discount his trademark intense screen persona, Nawazuddin has often revelled in deadpan humour. The actor invokes that quality here for most parts while bringing alive Pushpinder Tyagi, a middle-aged bachelor, who works as an accountant in Dubai and who arrives in hometown Bhopal in search of a bride. Pushpinder’s mother (Vibha Chibber) hopes to make big moolah by way of dowry in the process.

Meanwhile, girl next door, Anita (Athiya Shetty), has been rejecting a long line of eligible suitors because she wants her groom to be foreign-settled.

Pushpinder and Anita’s story isn’t really about childhood romance or love at first sight.

The film takes an entire half to set up that premise, before taking another entire hour to unfold where Pushpinder and Anita’s story could be headed. The lazy pace is the film’s bane, you realise, as the intended rom-com spirit gives way to boredom.—IANS