Review: ‘Chal Chalein’ a struggling move towards social cinema

Spicezee Bureau

Well, what can one say about a film that talks about the current social stratum, proving to be highly relevant yet has a lot missing in it- perhaps a little heart, a little more effort would’ve have done wonders for this social drama.‘Chal Chalein’ purely deals with the educational system (or the lack of it) in India and sends out a message that the idea behind education is not to traumatize children but to enlighten them. All that this film can boast about is a sensitive performance by Mithun Chakraborty. Ujjwal Singh’s direction isn’t the high point of the film either. The beginning is absorbing, focusing on the kids of senior school. It progresses as the kids try to cope with the tutorials and also the parents, who are too high on expectations. A kid who wants to be a writer is slapped by his father and forced to apply his mind in the uninteresting physics and maths, while an artistic kid cannot practice his passion for art as he has to attend extra classes. The bewildered kids run to Sanjay uncle (Mithun Chakraborty) who happens to be a leading lawyer, to plead with him to come up with a solution. The devoted uncle files a PIL against the parents. And the case soon hits national headlines. The second half is full of boring monologues with the drama shifting to the courtroom. What could’ve been a real platform for the loopholes in the education system turns out to be a dampener. Rating: Two stars