Chhatriwal Movie Review: Rahul Preet Singh’s film is informative but lags in bits
How many of you still giggle at the mention of the word ‘sex’? How many of you lower your tone when uttering the word ‘condom’? If your answer to these questions is ‘mostly’, then we have a problem. That’s what Rahul Preet Singh’s latest release Chhatriwali addresses. Starring Rahul Preet Singh as the female lead and Sumeet Vyas in a pivotal role, the film is a decent watch with predictable parts. But is it success? We can find out.
Chhatriwali is the story of a girl who doesn’t work in an umbrella factory (as the name suggests). The name is cleverly used for two purposes in the film – Rahul (Sanya) is ashamed to tell people that he works as a quality supervisor in a condom factory while lying to everyone who works in an umbrella factory. Secondly, condoms are also referred to as sathri in most places. Hence, the application. Anyway, back to the plot.
Sanya is terrible at chemistry, respected at work, but shy about telling people about the condom factory. She marries Sumeet Vyas, but he doesn’t know where his wife works until the climax. After some struggles, Sanya convinces her family and society that being open about sex education and using condoms is not a taboo. That’s one of the film’s few problems. It preaches in parts.
Chhatriwali delivers an important message. Safe sex and use of condoms. Yet the film, which is banned in many places, is informative and funny at the same time. Directed by Tejas Vijay Deoskar, the film sensitively portrays the dangers of frequent use of abortion pills and textbook knowledge for middle school children. It is interspersed with funny moments in between to lessen the seriousness of the issue. While we know the film revolves around the importance of sex education, there is a bit too much in between.
The film starts off on a light note, but lags in some parts. Certain situations, such as Sumeeth Vyas’s brother (Rajesh Thailong), who, despite being a biology teacher to middle school children, refuses to talk about sex education, reflect the way most Indian families operate gender-specifically. But it can sometimes be too much. Perhaps, a change of context or subject helped.
And finally we’d give it to Rakesh Bedi’s cameo as a medical shop owner who gets fed up with people buying him toothbrushes and mosquito repellent before asking Chatri (if you know what that means). It is a picture-perfect representation of the reasonable look one gets when buying a condom. Points to the screenwriter for keeping it real!
Coming to the acting, Rahul Preet Singh, supported by Sumeeth Vyas, does a decent job shouldering the film. However, we feel that Rahul has the best performance in his kitty. While Rahulal Chhatriwali gets the flavor of it, let’s deduct some marks for dialogue delivery and body language. Rahul sometimes wears classy clothes and sometimes not so classy, so we don’t know how to tell the difference. Remember that breakfast scene after the wedding? Sumeeth Vyas as usual was another driving force in the film. Every time he appears on the screen, it automatically lights up! It is typical of Sumeet.
All in all, Chhatriwali is a decent weekend watch where all the predictable parts fall into place in the end. But did it deliver the desired message? You have to decide that.
