Ghanchakkar Movie Review

Ghanchakkar Movie Review

After delivering two critically and almost-commercially successful films in the form of ‘Aamir’ and ‘No One Killed Jessica,’ director Rajkumar Gupta is back with the whodunit comic thriller Ghanchakkar. This is a change in terrain for Gupta, and going by the lack of humour in his earlier two films, Ghanchakkar is a surprising move. Vidya Balan is back after a whole year too.

Story: Sanju (Emraan Hashmi) is coaxed into committing one last robbery by two other robbers – Pandit (Rajesh Sharma) and Idris (Namit Das). They successfully carry out the robbery and decide to meet after things have cooled out to distribute the money. Sanju meanwhile has an entertaining brash anomalous Punjabi wife Neetu (Vidya Balan) who likes to get dressed up in the most outrageous outfits. When Pandit and Idris come back to get their money, Sanju refuses to recognize them because he has developed retrograde amnesia. The search for the money then forms the rest of the story.


Direction: Much was expected from Gupta, and to a certain extent he delivers what was expected from him. The layered nuances, the funny characters with bizarre mannerisms are meant to tickle your funny bone. But Gupta fails in taking the commencement of such a promising story to a satisfying ending. The funny sequences are not as laugh out loud funny, as the premise promised. Gupta’s direction, even though it’s technically sound, is let down by the screenwriters who run of creative ideas for the last one-fourth of the film and allows Ghanchakkar to become a rubble. Having said that, Gupta’s ingenuity comes across in a few of the film’s sequences – the bank robbery scene being the high point of the film.

Miscellaneous: The camera work is smartly done. It captures the narrative without any stray elements. The production design is also appropriate. The costume design is the highlight of the film because Vidya’s preposterous clothes manage to catch your attention. The editing lags behind a bit and isn’t able to keep up the pace and sadly makes the film slower than it should have been.

Music: Amit Trivedi, the master musician, is not at his best. That is not to say, the music is sub-par. It’s just that a lot more was anticipated from Trivedi. A few songs are catchy for sure – Lazy Lad, Jholu Ram and Ghanchakkar Babu. But the resourcefulness that is the trademark of an Amitabh Bhattacharya – Amit Trivedi collaboration is in low doses in Ghanchakkar.

Acting: Emraan Hashmi delivers a stirring performance in the film as the lazy, always tired Sanju who struggles with his own memory. The frustration in Sanju’s life was easily blatant in Hashmi’s performances. Vidya Balan’s cleavage provides more funny moments than she does in Ghanchakkar. Her clothes make a bigger noise than her performance. Her punjabiness is mostly limited to her “Hain?” and words like ‘bhrosa’, ‘treeq’, ‘galt’ instead of bharosa, tareeq and galat. But the director is to be blamed for most of her onscreen mannerisms. Rajesh Sharma and Namit Das are perfect as the two thugs desperately in search of the money they looted. Rajesh is witty and authentic as Pandit, and Namit is naively downbeat as Idris.

Conclusion and Box Office Potential: The film has its moments, and some funny sequences but the culmination of everything that happens prior to the climax is destroyed by the slapdash climax. Such a capable plot gets ruined by barren writing. The producers (UTV) are sure to recover their investment, but the climax is not going to sit well with the Indian audiences. Lifetime business of 50 crore looks like a difficult target but not unattainable.