Chennai Express

Casts: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sathyaraj.
Banner: Utv Motion Pictures and Red Chillies Entertainment

Director: Rohit Shetty

Producer: Gauri Khan, Karim Morani, Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur

Writers:  K. Subaash Music: Vishal, Shekhar and Honey Singh.

Release Date: 8th August 2013

Story line: Chennai Express movie hard-core commercial film with a romantic angle. The story is about this man's travel from Mumbai to Rameshwaram and what happens during the journey.

The movie is based on a 40-year-old bachelor Rahul, who lands up in a totally unexpected journey that makes him realize the importance of Love, Life Relationships and Sacrifice! A stimulating train voyage that not only takes Rahul, accidentally to his destination but also makes him realize the power of True Love! A hilarious journey which teaches you about the serious relationships in life.

Know more about the captain of the Ship, the director: Rohit Shetty started his career at the age of 17 as an assistant director on Phool Aur Kante (Ajay Devgn's debut film). Since then he and Ajay Devgn struck a good professional and personal relationship. He made his directorial debut with Zameen starring Ajay Devgn and Abhishek Bachchan. Shetty has been responsible for some of the biggest box office hits like Golmaal, Golmaal Returns, Golmaal 3, All the Best, Singham and Bol Bachchan.

Facts And Figures:

•   Chennai express’s budget is approximate Rs 90 crore and film length is 2 hour 35 minutes.

•  The film is expected to release across 125 cinemas and 170 screens across the UK,          marking one of the widest Bollywood releases in the country.

• Rani Mukerji, Kajol and Rajnikanth has done the guest appearances in the movie.
• Rohit shetty has made almost all his movies in the past with Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd. This is the very first time he made a movie under Utv Motion Pictures and Red Chillies Entertainment.
• Chennai Express along with Akshay Kumar starrer Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai Dobara have been abandoned by Pakistani distributors and exhibitors in the interest of four of their films releasing on the same day.
• Adopting an aggressive stance on Wednesday, July 31, 2013 the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chitrapat Sena (Film Wing) threatened to disrupt and stop its release on August 8 as it reportedly attempted to dislodge ongoing popular Marathi movies from single-screen cinemas in the state. The party was upset with reports that the Rohit Shetty directed movie had demanded prime slots in single screen cinemas and even some multiplexes in the state where the superhit Marathi movie Duniyadari has been running to packed houses since July 19. Later, on August 1, 2013, both the film directors, Rohit Shetty and Sanjay Jadhav were called on Raj Thackeray to hammer out a solution. After listening to both parties, Thackeray ruled that if Duniyadari was not removed from single screen cinemas across the state, then the MNS would not object to the release and run of Chennai Express in Maharashtra.

My Gut Feel and comments:

Rohit shetty had made multi-starrers in the past except Singham. His USP has been light hearted multi-starrer comedy with great action made under moderate budget however with Chennai express it looks like he adjusted his style of film making as Shahrukh Khan as a super star has captured the canvas completely.

This movie’s budget is 90 crore which means even at box office movie hit the magic figure of Rs 100 crore mark it would be only Rs 10 crore up against its making cost. Although this movie has created the enough buzz which would ensure the bumper opening and principally Shahrukh’s movies do exceptional business overseas especially in Europe as compare to any other Bollywood star.  I am a great admirer of Shahrukh Khan and like him very much in Swadesh and Chak De India.

With Chennai Express not sure why I am not getting the vibes that this movie would be as entertaining as Om Shanti OM or Main Hoon Na which it claim to be. We recently witnessed the debacle of Himatwala where both Sajid Khan and Ajay Devgan went over the top and increased the scale of the movie without giving much attention to the script and content of the movie.

As a passionate Bollywood lover I am keeping my figures crossed and love to be wrong however my first reaction after watching the promps was that it’s a loud movie overpowered by Stardom of Shahrukh Khan with less funny moments and over the top action sequences. Again I would reiterate that I would love to be wrong and pray that this movie come out as a great entertainer and have all the success at box office however I use this forum to express my gut feel so I would go by my gut feel.   I would give this movie 3 out of 5 stars, four days before its release.

Labels: Deepika Padukone, Morani, preview, Preview Chennai Express, review chennai express, rohit shetty, Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur, Sathyaraj, Utv Motion Pictures and Red Chillies Entertainment.