Chillar Party is a party of an interesting assortment of kids with equally interesting nick names like Shaolin, Silencer, Panauti and Encyclopedia. This group of children takes on a local neta Bhide who is on a mission to build a ‘bhay-mukta Mumbai’ (fearless Mumbai) by chasing all stray dogs out of the boundaries of the city. On his target happens to be Bhidu, the favourite pet of the Chillar Party, and a harmless stray animal. So there is a Bhide versus Bhidu in the film and who emerges victorious is anyone’s guess. The problem of the film lies in its first half; the debutant directors have pretty much spent half the film trying to establish the story. There are gangs of colony kids, there are galli cricket matches, hostility giving way to friendship, smart pranks and fooling around; all that regular stuff that belongs to children’s films. But one has no clue where is all that leading until the interval. The real plot begins only post interval by when one has already begun losing interest in the film. However, the second half moves fast and has enough twists and turns with adrenaline rush to bring one back into the film and capture one’s attention till the end. How the kids succeed in bringing about a change of heart in the adults and eventually getting bhidu, the dog an NOC (no objection certificate) to stay in their society becomes an engaging ride.
One could say that the film makes one look at the world through the eyes of the children, if only the kids in the film acted like kids. And this is not a comment on their acting, but the heroic quality that each one of them looked burdened with. A film like this one loses its sheen and simplicity the moment innocence is ripped off the kids and they are made to act like super-heroes who have the power to take on the world. These are overripe kids who mouth heavy-duty dialogues, come up with a solution for every problem that faces them, and create a revolution almost by making the entire city sit up and take notice of them. One can then only say how cute the kids were, but not feel for or sympathize with any of their characters. That is when the film ends up resembling those story books laden with heroes and heroic deeds one read as a kid; and can be at best labeled as a children’s film which fails to have an appeal that cuts across audiences belonging to different age groups.
Much as one wants to avoid any comparison, Stanley Ka Dabba stands out in stark contrast with Chillar Party when it comes to understanding children and weaving an emotive world around them. Most importantly, letting children be. The two films also raise the issue of child labour, albeit in very different ways; very subtly in Stanley Ka Dabba and far more obviously in Chillar Party. In the latter, when an adult pragmatically puts it that Phatka, the child laborer should be let go of as child labour is unlawful, a more sensitive child raises the question that what will he eat if he doesn’t work, as he doesn’t have parents to take care of him.
Chillar Party is actually a children’s film, with quite a few lessons in moral science strewn here and there. There are lessons of kindness, care, loyalty, co-existence and the like; in fact, the entire sequence which acts as the climax of the battle between the politician and the kids is fought with moral science books. If not for adults, for kids, Chillar Party may work as an enjoyable and educating film.
And did I get it wrong, or err…were the promos of the film misleading? Salman Khan is nowhere to be seen in the film, and the item number by Ranbir Kapoor which looked like the highlight of Chillar Party comes only in the end of the end-credits! Well, that does work wonders, the audience waits in anticipation till the very last credit goes off the screen; a giant feat in itself for the Indian audience in theatres. And why has Sallu co-produced this film? All for the love of his dog, or at least that’s what the film says.
