Motichoor Chaknachoor
Director: Debamitra Biswal
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Athiya Shetty
Motichoor Chaknachoor is the latest in the series of Bollywood films set in the Hindi heartland. Bollywood filmmakers these days are very keen on making more such films. It can be attributed to the recent success of films set in the Hindi belt. The underlying idea is to woo the audiences in tier-ii and tier-iii cities spread across north-central India. Also, it must be noted that a major chunk of the Hindi-speaking youth working in the metros hails from these places. So it’s really a win-win situation for Hindi cinema.
Of late, a lot of the leading actors who are best known for playing city-bred, suave characters have shown an inclination towards playing characters hailing from Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, etc. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, of course, has been a pioneer as far as playing these interesting characters from the Hindi heartland. In Motichoor Chaknachoor, he plays the character of a 36-year-old unmarried man named Pushpinder Tyagi. With each passing moment the man seems to be growing more and more desperate to get married. He fears that if he doesn’t get married soon he might have to live as a bachelor all his life. What makes the matter worse is that his mother would marry her only to a girl whose family can pay a hefty sum of dowry. Just when all of Pushpinder’s hopes are dashed, a girl name Annie (played by Athiya Shetty) enters his life, which changes everything forever. But Pushpinder must quickly figure out if it is for the worse or the better.
Motichoor Chaknachoor is far from being a perfect film. But one can overlook these flaws because Siddiqui is in top form here. He not only makes Pushpinder Tyagi believable but also makes other characters around him look good. The biggest surprise, however, comes from Athiya Shetty who will most definitely succeed in finally silencing her critics. Her chemistry with Siddiqui is one of the major highlights of the film.
Other than being thoroughly entertaining and funny, Motichoor Chaknachoor also touches upon very many important issues associated with marriage that we aren’t usually comfortable talking about. It exposes practices, which are still prevalent in the society despite being illegal. It also tries to break the stereotypes around marriage. It reminds us that ultimately it is our life and so choice also should be ours. That succumbing to family’s or society’s pressures is not the solution. One must fight for one’s rights because if one doesn’t then who would.