Chillar Party

Vikas Bahl and Nitesh Tiwari’s story had the germs for an interesting drama but the screenplay, penned by Vikas Bahl, Nitesh Tiwari and Vijay Maurya, leaves a lot to be desired. The scenes and the dialogues written for the little kids are indeed cute, comical and enjoyable but other than that, there isn’t much to sustain the audience’s interest consistently. Resultantly, the interest level and involvement of the viewer dips at regular intervals.

Perhaps, the biggest drawback of the screenplay is that the dog has not been shown to do much so as to endear itself to the audience. For the same reason, the kids taking up for Fatka and Bhidu looks too far-fetched and also devoid of emotions. The kids understanding society bye-laws and terms like NOC, majority etc., that too, without anybody explaining anything to them, again looks rather unreal. The face-off between the minister and the kids on the TV chat show raises expectations of an exciting showdown but even that confrontation is rather tame with kids being at their best behaviour. What’s probably equally disturbing is how the issue of stray dogs is brought into the drama. The manner in which it has been done looks too contrived. Yes, dog lovers and pet owners may connect better with the film but for the rest, it holds appeal only and only because of the comedy of the kids and only for those sequences. Also, the film may pretend to tackle a macro issue (of stray dog nuisance) but it remains a very micro issue involving just one housing society in Bombay!