‘Chhalaang’: Watch it for good fun’s sake!

Actor Rajkummar Rao and filmmaker Hansal Mehta are immensely talented individuals, who have delivered outstanding onscreen outcomes such as Shahid and Omerta. Chhalaang, their latest offering that began streaming on Amazon Prime Video, is a new kind of film from the duo.

Set in a small town in Haryana, the breezy film merges the genres of rom-com and sports drama in a well-scripted story (Luv Ranjan, Zeishan Quadri, Aseem Arrora).

The prolific Rao has had two releases on OTT platforms in two consecutive days. He is a hoot as a dhaba-owning Mithun Chakraborty fan in Anurag Basu’s ambitious black comedy ‘Ludo’ that started streaming on Netflix since yesterday.

Mehta helmed ‘Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story’, a gripping web series on the unscrupulous stockbroker who minted millions, lost it all and died young. The series that released sometime earlier is, without question, the best Indian original of 2020.

‘Chhalaang’ in which the two of them have come together yet again takes us inside Sir Chhoturam School, a small institution where Mahinder Hooda (Rao) popularly known by his nickname Montu, works as the PT teacher. Montu is lazy and shows little passion for his work, which is a subtle comment on the disgraceful plight of sports education in India. He wears fancy tracksuits though, while his pompadour that reminds of Gregory Peck’s hairstyle in an exaggerated sort of way suggests that he is conscious of his short height.

Characters in Montu’s life include his father (Satish Kaushik), mother (Baljinder Kaur), a halwai buddy Dimpy (Jatin Sarna), the school principal Usha Gehlot (Ila Arun), and a supportive retired Hindi teacher Shukla (Saurabh Shukla).

Montu falls for Neelima (Nushratt Bharuccha), a progressive computer teacher in the same school. And the man who emerges as his rival in love and job is I M Singh (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) a trained sports coach unlike Montu who had been hired as one because he didn’t have a job and his father had requested the principal to employ him.

Montu’s life takes a turn after he is demoted to the job of Singh’s assistant. The salary remains the same, but Montu feels the pangs of humiliation deep within. He requests the principal to permit a competition consisting of three sporting disciplines between teams trained by the two teachers. The teacher whose team wins gets to do the job he has lost, he suggests. It is a strange and impractical suggestion, which fits in perfectly in a story such as this. The principal gives the green signal, and the plot ends in a climax that would surprise nobody.

‘Chhalaang’ doesn’t have many gut-busting moments, but the viewer’s lips do crumble into a smile from time to time. The film’s humour is the outcome of situations rather than witty dialogues, but it serves the purpose of delivering clean and light-hearted entertainment without degenerating into stupidity.

Rao is the soul of the film. He makes Montu likeable as well as credible, a commendable achievement considering the story doesn’t pretend to be realistic. Shukla and Kaushik are reliably good, while Bharuccha and Ayyub make an impact as well.

‘Chhalaang’ is remarkable also because the actors get their Haryanvi accent right, which makes it impressively different from the way it is caricatured in most films. The setting of the film comes across as authentic, revealing Mehta’s passion for accurate detailing once again.

Have you had a tough day at work? Or do you wish to unwind during a festive weekend? Should either of the two be true, watching ‘Chhalaang’ with your family and loved ones at home will be a decision you won’t regret.