Chhichhore

There's Anupam Kher's daddy in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, who celebrates his son's failure by popping a bottle of champagne. And there's Aamir Khan's Bapu in Dangal, who slave drives his daughters to fulfill his dream of winning a gold medal at the Olympics.

This film is literally all in its writing. Which isn't to suggest that the performers on screen - Sushant Singh Rajput, Shraddha Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Naveen Polishetty (and the rest) - don't match up to the material. Oh, all of them do. They collectively shine, without doubt.

CHHICHHORE is the story of 'loser' friends trying to become winners and learning some important lessons on the way. Annirudh Pathak aka Anni (Sushant Singh Rajput) is a middle-aged man residing in Mumbai with his son Raghav (Mohammad Samad) after divorcing his wife Maya (Shraddha Kapoor). Raghav is under immense pressure as he has just given the entrance exams for engineering.

Annirudh (Sushant Singh Rajput) called Anni by his friends and Maya (Shraddha Kapoor) are a divorced couple. Their lives turn topsy turvy when they learn that their young son Raghav has tried to commit suicide. Annirudh feels that narrating stories from his own college days might help his son recover mentally.

Aniruddha Pathak (Sushant Singh Rajput) is a divorcee who has the custody of his teenage son, Raghav. The kid has devoted two years for his life to clear the engineering entrance exams but fails to do so in the first attempt. He attempts suicide but survives with critical brain injuries. His father decides to recount his hostel days to his son and how his bunch of losers (friends) emerged as winners in their own eyes.

Unable to cope with the tag of being called a 'loser' son to his rank holder (now divorced) parents Aniruddha Pathak (Sushant Singh Rajput) and Maya (Shraddha Kapoor), on not being able to clear the engineering entrance exams, a teenaged Raghav attempts to commit suicide. He survives but is in a crtitical condition with 'no desire to live'. Aniruddha aka 'Anni' decides to take matters in his hands and goes down the memory lane to narrate how he himself was one of the losers among his bunch of other loser friends in college.

A present-day tragedy sends Annirudh Pathak (Sushant Singh Rajput) off in search of his best buddies from his youth. They were all students at India's most prestigious engineering college about two decades back when they joined forces to get rid of the loser tag slapped on their hostel by the rest of the institution.

The light touch and the heavy hand are both at play in Nitesh Tiwari's Chhichhore. The movie begins as a rambunctious college campus comedy, quickly moves into the sentimental family drama zone, returns for the fun and games, shifts back into tear-jerking territory, and finally runs out of breath with only some of its ambitions realised.

What were your college days like? Mine were a blur of bad jokes, glorious friendships, heady romances, illicit pastimes and mostly forgettable lectures despite which, somehow we came away with an education. Chhichhore encapsulates all of this. Director Nitesh Tiwari creates a cocktail of nostalgia, relationships, family drama and on-the-nose messaging that wobbles precariously but eventually it lands. You walk away wanting to be friends with some of these characters - especially Varun Sharma's Sexa, who I think deserves his own spin-off film.

One Word Review... Chhichhore: DELIGHTFUL. Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari is in top form yet again... Has several brilliant moments... Three aces: Emotions, humour, finale... Sushant, Shraddha, Varun excel... Could've done with shorter run time.

'Hila' diya yaar.. rula rula ke hila diya... some movies are not just movies, they are beyond. Nitesh Tiwari's CHHICHHORE is one of those. A movie that begins as a toast to dosti, love, zindagi (friendship, love and life) and ends as an unforgettable coming of age lesson on parenthood. CHHICHHORE is that unhinged rare emotional coming of age high that ages but still stays alive to its campus magic. Sheer nostalgia, sheer delight, the pleasure we long to seek in cinema.

Raghav, son of high achieving parents succumbs to the pressure that comes with cut-throat entrance exams. As he battles for life in a hospital, his parents regroup with their friends after decades. Together, this older generation, goes on a nostalgia trip reminiscing their college days, hoping their bittersweet memories will help save a teenager, who has lost all will to live.

When asked about the best days of our life, most of us go into flashback mode and think of our school and college days. The time when friends were family and midnight shenanigans and midnight cravings went hand-in-hand. Nostalgia, accompanied with envy, hits you the moment you see a group of carefree college students. Because time moves in one direction.