Batti Gul Meter Chalu could just as easily be the title of an Op-Ed in Dainik Bhaskar. The name itself addresses something that is clearly an issue that affects people in our region, and the only way it should be the name of a Bollywood film is if the batti and meter symbolises something crazy and the movie itself is a slapstick comedy.
However, Shree Narayan Singh’s latest film is a Bollywood rendition of an Op-Ed that addresses a societal problem just like his previous film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha was. And while it takes on a similarly lower-tier social issue – for those not experiencing it, of course – unlike Toilet, Batti significantly misses the mark in its execution.
While the former came to the point almost immediately, BGMC takes more than its fair share of time to do so. And this time is spent making, what in its essence is a social commentary, a hotchpotch of the tried and tested commercial Bollywood formulae. Except that they go off at the wrong time like the power throughout the film.
The film opens up with a love triangle featuring SK (Shahid Kapoor), Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor), and Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma). They are childhood friend who feel it is best that two among the trio extend that friendship to a lifetime bond, with the third won having to make do with the elimination.
SK is a lawyer who takes joy in minting money from settling matters out of court. Nauti feels she can conquer the world with her fashion designing. Tripathi, meanwhile, decides to open a printing press, where he is charged with an inflated INR 150,000 bill, which rises to INR 5,400,000.
What follows is a case between the private electric company SPTL and SK, with the firm represented by Gulnaar (Yami Gautam), who is more than a match for SK’s legal prowess.
Those who have seen the trailer, or heard anything about BGMC, would know what happens between the start of the case proceedings and Tripathi being slammed with the bill. And even those that would barely qualify as a spoiler, we’ll leave that bit concealed for those who mightn’t have an idea.
The film’s greatest weakness is the fact that it treads too many waters before making the choice that it was always setup to do. The love-triangle, for instance, is an integral part of the first half of the film, despite being completely superfluous in the larger picture and absolutely irrelevant to what the script was vying to achieve.
Comparisons with Toilet are inevitable here as well, given the fact that romance was central to that film and significantly enhanced the storytelling. BGMC’s first half is designed to squeeze in the love story and the music – some of which is pretty decent, one would have to admit – before the film transforms into a court-room drama that it was always intended as.
There definitely is drama in the courtroom, and some parts are pretty well created as well. But the loopholes in the first half make the overall experience tiresome.
By the time the film reaches a stage where one realises it’s going to highlight the electricity troubles in India, there would be more than a fair share of people wishing that the light goes out in the cinema hall.
And this is despite decent acting performances from the trio, two of whom – Shahid and Shraddha – are now among the top stars in the country.
Unfortunately, most other parts of Batti Gul Meter Chalu are completely switched off – the blame for which would largely fall on the director Shree Narayan Singh. If he’s going to continue playing out Op-Eds on the big screen, he needs to keep them crisp, to the point, and stay within the word limit.
However, Shree Narayan Singh’s latest film is a Bollywood rendition of an Op-Ed that addresses a societal problem just like his previous film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha was. And while it takes on a similarly lower-tier social issue – for those not experiencing it, of course – unlike Toilet, Batti significantly misses the mark in its execution.
While the former came to the point almost immediately, BGMC takes more than its fair share of time to do so. And this time is spent making, what in its essence is a social commentary, a hotchpotch of the tried and tested commercial Bollywood formulae. Except that they go off at the wrong time like the power throughout the film.
Unfortunately, most other parts of Batti Gul Meter Chalu are completely switched off – the blame for which would largely fall on the director Shree Narayan Singh
The film opens up with a love triangle featuring SK (Shahid Kapoor), Nauti (Shraddha Kapoor), and Tripathi (Divyendu Sharma). They are childhood friend who feel it is best that two among the trio extend that friendship to a lifetime bond, with the third won having to make do with the elimination.
SK is a lawyer who takes joy in minting money from settling matters out of court. Nauti feels she can conquer the world with her fashion designing. Tripathi, meanwhile, decides to open a printing press, where he is charged with an inflated INR 150,000 bill, which rises to INR 5,400,000.
What follows is a case between the private electric company SPTL and SK, with the firm represented by Gulnaar (Yami Gautam), who is more than a match for SK’s legal prowess.
Those who have seen the trailer, or heard anything about BGMC, would know what happens between the start of the case proceedings and Tripathi being slammed with the bill. And even those that would barely qualify as a spoiler, we’ll leave that bit concealed for those who mightn’t have an idea.
The film’s greatest weakness is the fact that it treads too many waters before making the choice that it was always setup to do. The love-triangle, for instance, is an integral part of the first half of the film, despite being completely superfluous in the larger picture and absolutely irrelevant to what the script was vying to achieve.
Comparisons with Toilet are inevitable here as well, given the fact that romance was central to that film and significantly enhanced the storytelling. BGMC’s first half is designed to squeeze in the love story and the music – some of which is pretty decent, one would have to admit – before the film transforms into a court-room drama that it was always intended as.
There definitely is drama in the courtroom, and some parts are pretty well created as well. But the loopholes in the first half make the overall experience tiresome.
By the time the film reaches a stage where one realises it’s going to highlight the electricity troubles in India, there would be more than a fair share of people wishing that the light goes out in the cinema hall.
And this is despite decent acting performances from the trio, two of whom – Shahid and Shraddha – are now among the top stars in the country.
Unfortunately, most other parts of Batti Gul Meter Chalu are completely switched off – the blame for which would largely fall on the director Shree Narayan Singh. If he’s going to continue playing out Op-Eds on the big screen, he needs to keep them crisp, to the point, and stay within the word limit.